Thursday, February 26, 2015
News to Know January 29, 2015
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This communication is put together and distributed on a
volunteer basis by resident Corinne Stridsberg simply in an effort to share
information and build community, it is not from the town of Berlin
Please share this with your Berlin
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NOTES:
NATIVE TONGUE
will be featured at the Mid-Winter Warm Up Dance Party to benefit the Granite
City Grocery Cooperative on Friday, February 6th 7:30pm - 11pm at the Barre Elks. Tickets at the door $10 each ($8 if you
are a GCG owner) www.granitecitygrocery.coop
Meanwhile - lots
of fun events this weekend including another free opportunity to bring the kids
to hear Jon Gailmor at National Life! (see 10th Annual Everybody Wins)
Below you will
find:
APPLES!!
ORGANIC RAW HONEY
& EGGS
SHHHH!!! IT'S A SURPRISE
WINE WITH FRIENDS
10th ANNUAL
EVERYBODY WINS!
LATIN DINNER
& DANCE
VOTE FOR VERMONT
INTERESTED IN
CHESS?
SCRABBLE CLUB
SEEKS PLAYERS HERE IN BERLIN
TOWN MEETING DAY DETAILS
AUDIT SAYS: NO
DEFICIT IN BERLIN
BOARD DEALS WITH
LOOMING U-32 DEFICIT
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APPLES!!
Did you know that
although Ellie's is closed for the season you can still buy apples from
them? I picked up a bushel of McIntosh apples recently and have greatly
enjoyed munching them down and making Apple Crisp etc. Just right for
getting through this cold weather! "Ellie's Farm Market & Gift
Shop & Cider Mill - For apples during the months we are closed call
485-4227 & leave a message & your phone #. Bushel - $15.00
(40 lbs.) / 1/2 bu. - $9.00 (20 lbs.) Varieties available: McIntosh, Cortland
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ORGANIC
RAW HONEY & EGGS
Organic raw honey
processed from our hives right here in Berlin
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SHHHH!!! IT'S A SURPRISE
Do you know Grace Rose? Her 90th birthday will be celebrated
with a surprise party on February 14th in Berlin 62 Griswold Street , Jericho , VT 05465
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WINE WITH FRIENDS
Friday Night Board Games 5pm - 8pm at Fresh Tracks Farm on Vermont Route 12 in Berlin
Bring a game(s), bring a friend(s), have some fun! 223-1151 www.freshtracksfarm.com and find them on facebook.
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The 36th annual Ice Harvest will take place Saturday, January 31st, 2015 on Sunset Lake Brookfield Pond Village BrookfieldElementary School
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10th
ANNUAL EVERYBODY WINS!
Saturday, January
31st 1pm - Hundreds of books to read!
Music by Jon Gailmor! Cookies & milk! Prizes from Bear Pond Books! A free
book for every kid! The 10th Annual Everybody Wins! Vermont Read-A-Thon hopes
you will be able to join them at the FREE family event. RSVP
appreciated but not required. Location: National Life Cafeteria https://www.facebook.com/events/902715753095350 contact:info@ewvt.org or 802-229-2665
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The 20th annual
Vermont 50+ & Baby Boomers Expo, presented by Vermont Maturity Magazine, is
Saturday, January 31st at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center South Burlington . 9am - 4pm with ticket prices $5 at the
door ($4 in advance by calling 872-9000 x19). This Expo is open to all
ages and offers more than 90 exhibitors, informative seminars and workshops,
Musical Revue by the Lyric Theatre Company Singers, art & wellness demos,
photo booth, Vermont Artisan coffee and tea tasting and an Elvis Tribute
Concert. Enter for a chance to win giveaways including a trip for two to Montreal
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LATIN DINNER & DANCE
U-32 invites you Saturday, January 31st for dinner at 6:30pm and live music and dancing at 7:30pm . Always a fun time, no
experience necessary for the dancing, good food, great music!
Professional Latin Dance instruction. Featuring U-32 Musicians.
Gourmet Mexican meal, including a smoothie bar. Ticket $5 students, $15
adults, $10 seniors, $35 immediate family. Tickets available from music
students, at the door, or contact Sara Wolf to reserve tickets 229-0321 x 5129 swolf@u32.org
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If you didn't happen to see this on the evening news, be sure to
check out. Cecil Freeman is a Berlin
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From U-32:
"Long time
coach, teacher, mentor and friend, Mike Law is going to be inducted into the
VPA Hall of Fame on Friday, May 1st. This is a really big honor and it would be
fantastic if we could get many people to attend - especially former students,
coaches and players.
If you are
interested in attending, please contact the VPA at 802 229-0547. Tickets
will go fast because there are some other amazing inductees. If you do go,
please tell them that you are going in support of Coach Law and they will sit
us together.
Hope to see you there!"
Hope to see you there!"
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VOTE
FOR VERMONT
Wayne Lamberton
will be discussing Permit Reform with Pat McDonald on the next Vote For Vermont live on Monday 5:30pm on ORCA Channel 15. Wayne
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INTERESTED
IN CHESS?
Students learning
chess is in the news (see link). The state championship that they mention is
the "Vermont State Scholastic Chess Championships" that have been
hosted at the Berlin Elementary School Berlin
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SCRABBLE
CLUB SEEKS PLAYERS HERE IN BERLIN
The Northern
Vermont Scrabble Club, currently the top club in Vermont Barre-Montpelier Road 1 PM . The club is intended for those seeking friendly yet
competitive play (it's a good way to transition from living room play to
tournament competition). All games are played with a timer and you're allowed
25 minutes for your entire game. Challenges are adjudicated with an official
word list, so there's no arguing about what is and what is not a word. The
clock insures that both players move in a timely manner, so there's no getting
bored waiting. If you want to test your word knowledge against tournament
players, this is the place. It's free and you can show up at any meeting you
like. Join us!
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TOWN
MEETING DAY DETAILS
Find the details
regarding Town Meeting Day at this link:
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AUDIT
SAYS: NO DEFICIT IN BERLIN
Pub. 1/21/15 Times
Argus by David Delcore
According to a newly completed audit of the fiscal year that ended June 30, the town’s fund balance actually ticked up from the prior year’s $578,868 surplus to $585,225 — an increase of $6,357. What’s more, the uncommitted portion of that surplus — the amount the Select Board is free to spend — increased nearly $83,000, from $239,791 a year ago to $322,511 this year.
How is that possible?
The answers can be found in the pages of the audit that the Select Board accepted without much discussion Monday night because, in this case, the numbers speak for themselves.
According to the audit, the town spent just over $3.03 million during the last fiscal year. That’s $360,505 more than the Select Board budgeted and $253,814 more than the nearly $2.78 million the town received in revenue.
That sure looks like a deficit until you factor in $260,171 in proceeds from a state loan the town is using to finance preliminary engineering of a new municipal water system.
The engineering work is now done, and while construction of the system, which will serve the Berlin Four Corners area, halted recently, it will resume in the spring and is scheduled to be completed later this year.
The anticipated completion will roughly coincide with the first of five annual $78,677 payments on the no-interest state loans that financed engineering. The plan is for those loan payments, as well as costs associated with the construction financing package obtained through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to be made with proceeds from water rates as soon as the system is up and running.
In the meantime, some of those water system-related costs have been funneled through the general fund, skewing some of the numbers reflected in the last two audits and creating $393,387 in debt associated with the state engineering loans.
Water project expenses account for at least $165,000 of a budget overrun that includes $55,536 overage for miscellaneous expenses. The Police Department finished the year nearly $33,000 over its $865,067 budget due largely to money spent on new equipment, while the Highway Department was nearly $79,000 over budget due to work and materials associated with an unanticipated grant.
Fueled by the $175,000 highway grant, which financed the paving of
The surprisingly positive revenue numbers came despite the fact the town didn’t receive the first annual $25,000 payment for hosting the state hospital as officials had hoped and negated the need to use $50,000 in surplus funds to reduce last year’s tax rate. Instead of spending that surplus money, it was carried over and is one of the reasons the uncommitted portion of the fund balance has increased to $322,511.
On a night when the Select Board accepted the audit, members formally adopted the budget of just over $2.59 million they will ask voters to approve for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The board settled on the budget figure, which reflects an increase of $67,718, or just under 2.7 percent, during a special meeting last week.
The board also approved the first payment — $607,431 — to Munson Earth Moving Inc. for work on the municipal water system and welcomed word that the USDA had approved an additional $307,074 in financing to cover the cost of expanding the system to include Richardson Road.
The town is separately tracking water system-related expenses that will soon be shifted into a separate account.
david.delcore @timesargus.com
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Pub. 1/16/15 Times
Argus by David Delcore
The board all but wrapped up its latest round of budget deliberations Wednesday night after trimming $18,649 from a nearly $2.6 million spending plan that reflected a 3.4 percent increase at the start of the meeting.
Chairman Ture Nelson suggested that increase was a little higher than he would like — an observation that kicked off a line-by-line review.
Board members appeared ready to approve the budget at Wednesday’s special meeting, but Nelson suggested there was no harm in waiting for Monday’s regularly scheduled board meeting to formally adopt it.
“Let’s sleep on these numbers,” he said.
The numbers call for spending $67,719 more on running the town and maintaining its highway network than the nearly $2.53 million budget voters approved in March.
According to Nelson, if the board sticks with that figure and voters approve it along with a list of separately warned requests that is expected to increase by nearly $40,000, the municipal tax rate would go up by a little less than 1 cent. He said that worst-case projection assumes no growth in the town’s grand list.
Roughly half of the proposed spending increase can be traced to the $911,760 budget for the town’s Police Department. That budget reflects an increase of nearly $35,000, or about 4 percent. Though the board approved nearly $15,000 in insurance-related adjustments Wednesday, the remaining increase is needed to fund the balance of what will be a seventh full-time officer.
The first half of the new police position is included in the budget for the current fiscal year. While the board has agreed to promote a part-time officer, the position technically won’t be filled until after that officer graduates from the police academy in October.
Though the budget reflects a slight dip in revenue generated by the Police Department — from $129,656 to $127,380 — it includes an anticipated doubling of zoning-related revenue from $7,500 to $16,000. The latter figure more accurately reflects what the town has been collecting in zoning fees in recent years.
The cost of the day-to-day operation of the town and Police Department would climb from nearly $1.44 million to just over $1.49 million based on the latest round of budget modifications. That’s an increase of about 3.7 percent.
However, the board is considering a more modest increase in the cost of maintaining and upgrading town roads. The $995,933 budget for the Highway Department reflects an increase of $17,623, or 1.8 percent.
A decision to trim nearly $40,000 from an $84,339 line item for leased equipment helped neutralize several other sharp increases. The cost of workers’ compensation for the highway crew is expected to climb almost $18,000, and the budget anticipates a $10,000 spike for road salt and a $12,000 increase in the amount of winter overtime.
Like many of the adjustments made to the budget, the increased overtime costs more accurately reflect what the town is spending.
In addition to the budget, voters will be asked to consider a yet-to-be-finalized list of special spending requests that currently total almost $305,000 — about $40,000 more than voters approved last year.
Kellogg-Hubbard Library’s request for $28,271 accounts for much of the increase. The library is making a renewed push to secure some funding from
The Berlin Fire Department is asking for a $5,754 bump in its $236,700 appropriation, and the balance of the increase is tied to nominal increases for organizations whose requests are routinely approved and a couple that voters rejected last year.
david.delcore @timesargus.com
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BOARD
DEALS WITH LOOMING U-32 DEFICIT
Pub. 1/28/15
Times Argus by David Delcore
A school board eager to avoid making the same mistake twice is using a much more conservative projection in the $15 million budget proposal that will be on the Town Meeting Day ballot in
The budget calls for spending just over $14.9 million on the operation of the school, an increase of $82,252, or 0.55 percent, over the budget that voters approved in March.
The newly adopted budget is built on a number of assumptions, and one of them is a much more conservative estimate involving the number of out-of-district students who will pay to attend U-32 during the fiscal year that starts July 1.
A year ago school directors mistakenly anticipated the district would generate more than $1 million in tuition this school year. It now appears that number was off by nearly $165,000, roughly the amount of a projected budget shortfall that will further deplete a voter-approved reserve fund. That fund has already dipped below its target level of 4 percent of revenue, or just over $590,000.
The board used $200,000 of the reserve fund as revenue in the current year’s budget and had initially planned to use an additional $100,000 in the budget for the coming year. However, faced with a projected budget shortfall, the board opted not to use any of the reserve this year and to bank a newly audited year-end surplus of $46,120 in that fund.
The new budget reflects a reduction of more than $233,000 in tuition revenue, as well as a self-inflicted reduction of $200,000 in surplus revenue.
The board, which flirted with continuing spending at this year’s level, ultimately settled on a 0.55 percent increase that was achieved despite the need to absorb more than $370,000 in increases tied to salary raises and benefits.
The budget anticipates spending nearly $303,000 more on salaries and an extra $63,000 as a result of a 4.5 percent increase in health insurance premiums. It also contemplates boosting the annual contribution to the capital fund by $98,000 — from $232,000 to $330,000 this year.
To offset those sharp increases the board has settled on a plan not to replace several retiring staff members. Though the positions have not been publicly identified, they collectively represent more than $358,000 in savings. Roughly $175,000 of that total involves non-instructional positions, with a further $96,000 coming from administration and nearly $86,000 from the instructional program.
Those planned position reductions, coupled with nearly $77,0000 in savings associated with staffing changes, largely neutralized the spending increase in the budget.
The projected tax impact of the U-32 budget varies from town. Assessments are calculated using an enrollment-based formula and community-specific data, like each town’s common level of appraisal, or CLA.
The CLA is a key figure in a property value-based calculation the state performs to equalize tax burdens from one community to the next. The purpose is to ensure a community doesn’t underpay into the state education funding system because of outdated property valuations.
The CLA dropped by differing amounts in three of U-32’s five sending towns —
A 5.4 percent drop in
Though property is still assessed at more than 100 percent of fair market value in
The CLA worked the other way in Middlesex and Worcester. A 1.7 percent increase in the CLA in Middlesex was partly responsible for trimming a little less than a penny from the projected tax rate there, while a 4.3 percent increase in
All of the tax rate projections assume the Legislature will approve a recommended 2-cent increase in the statewide education tax rate and will boost the base education amount to $9,459 per equalized pupil. They also anticipate a slight increase in enrollment at U-32, ending a three-year decline that saw the number of equalized pupils dip from roughly 784 to a little less than 748. The figure now being used is just over 757 equalized pupils.
The projected rate adjustments for the five U-32 towns are in addition to those that will be required to support local elementary school budgets that will also be on the ballot in March.
@Tagline:david.delcore @timesargus.com
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On the Berlin , Vermont
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# posted by Corinne's blog of Berlin and area happenings @ 5:29 PM 
