GOSHEN — After a traditional potluck dinner at their town hall Monday evening, Goshen residents held a quick, hour-long town meeting in which they OK’d a town spending plan and discussed how the town, which handles trash pickup, will manage the state mandate that bans food scraps in garbage beginning July 1.
Residents OK’d a General Fund budget request of $248,543, which represents an increase of $25,573, or 11.5%, over what voters approved at last year’s town meeting. Assistant Town Clerk Marci Hayes said that among the things contributing to the increase are the added expenses of the primary and general election this year, a new state mandate called the “vault fund” that requires towns to put aside money for maintenance of town records and binding of town reports. Another increase is in the appropriation for the Brandon, Leicester, Salisbury, Goshen and Pittsford Mosquito Control District.
Voters also approved a Highway Fund spending plan of $216,200, which represents an increase of $3,430, or 1.6%.
Assistant Town Clerk Marci Hayes reported that there were no big discussions at town meeting this year, but there was a brief invitation to Goshenites to get more involved with town government and volunteer positions.
In Australian ballot voting at the Goshen Town Hall on Tuesday, 94 votes were cast, reflecting 59% turnout. Selectman Jeff Cathcart won re-election with 83 votes and no challengers. Dave McKinnon received write-in votes that put him in the second constable’s job.
Moderator Jeff Whiting declined to run for re-election because, he said, he wanted to be more vocal at town meetings, which he couldn’t do from the moderator’s post. In a write-in election, Bill Mathis was selected as Goshen town moderator. He got eight votes; Whiting got seven write-in votes for the position.
Goshen residents also weighed in on two at-large spots on the Otter Valley Unified Union School Board. Brandon resident Mike Lufkin won one of those positions, and Brandon’s Kevin Thornton won an at-large seat as a write-in candidate.
Goshen residents joined the five other Otter Valley Unified Union School District towns in approving a $20,377,427 school spending plan for 2020-2021; the tally was 1,098-877. It reflects a 2.22% increase in spending over the current year. Education spending per the state’s equalized pupil formula has per pupil spending increasing from $14,826 to $15,399, a 3.86% increase.
As a result, the education tax rate in Goshen will rise 7 cents (or 4.3%) to $1.592 per $100 of assessed property value.
In Presidential Primary voting in Goshen, the Democrats backed Bernie Sanders with 38 votes, followed by Joe Biden, 13; Elizabeth Warren, 9; Michael Bloomberg, 2; and Tulsi Gabbard, 1. In the Republican Primary the results were, Donald Trump, 17; William Weld, 4; and Rocky De La Fuente, 1.