SALISBURY — Salisbury voters on Town Meeting Day will be asked to eliminate the elected position of auditor, establish a new energy fund, and field two advisory referenda that seek to give residents a bigger say in the leadership and future of their local elementary school.
Article 9 on the warning pitches the elimination of the town auditor post, with future audits to be provided by a public accountant.
Article 10 recommends creation of an Energy Fund, seeded annually with at least $500 per year, to be tapped (in concert with grants and gifts) for local energy projects.
Salisbury is one of four Addison Central School District Communities that will permit a public vote on two petitioned items that the ACSD board had declined to place on the district ballot. The first article recommends that each ACSD board member be elected only by the voters of his or her hometown; candidates are currently elected at-large in the seven-town district. The second item suggests that no ACSD school be closed unless such a move is endorsed by a majority of voters in the town in which the school is located.
Both questions are non-binding.
In other action at their town meeting, Salisbury residents will:
•  Decide a proposed 2020-2021 general fund budget of $271,204, down from last year’s request of $294,018.
•  Field a 2020-2021 highway budget of $483,031, down slightly from this year’s $488,478 spending plan.
•  Vote on a proposed $26,371.80 appropriation for the Brandon-Leicester-Salisbury-Goshen-Pittsford (BLSG) Insect Control District.
•  Field a combined total of $89,325 in requests from various nonprofits and charities that serve Salisbury residents.
Residents on March 3 will join Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Shoreham and Weybridge folks in fielding an ACSD budget proposal of $39,507,837 for the 2020-2021 academic year. The spending plan reflects a 3.74-percent increase that would essentially allow the district to maintain current educational programming for children in pre-K through grade 12.
If approved, the ACSD budget is projected to drive Salisbury’s homestead education property tax rate to $1.81 per $100 in property value, up from the current $1.63.
Residents will also cast ballots on the proposed 2020-2021 Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center budget of $3,854,752, which reflects an 11.42% increase compared to this year’s spending plan.
Salisbury voters will field two contested elections for the ACSD school board. One of them involves Ellie Bishop challenging Jennifer Nuceder for a three-year term representing Salisbury on the 13-member panel. The other features Christin Gardner and incumbents Mary Gill and Victoria Jette vying for two available slots representing Middlebury.
There are no contested municipal elections on this year’s Salisbury ballot. Those running unopposed include Wayne Smith, one year, town moderator; Susan Scott, one year, town clerk; Jonathan Blake, three years, selectboard; Patrick Dunn, two years, selectboard.
Salisbury’s annual town meeting will be held on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 2 p.m. at the local elementary school. Australian ballot voting will take place on Tuesday, March 3, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the town office.