January 4, 2026 | By Lisa Scagliotti

*Duxbury Selectboard Chair Richard Charland addresses town residents gathered to hear about the proposed 2025 town budget last January. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti*

In an effort to engage voters before draft annual budget proposals are finalized, leaders in multiple local communities have special public meetings planned for this week.

Both Moretown and Waterbury join Duxbury in offering community members detailed previews of the budgets that will be up for votes on Town Meeting Day, which will be Tuesday, March 3, this year.

The Moretown Select Board will have its budget preview on Monday evening, Jan. 5.
Waterbury will host Budget Adjustment Day meetings on Saturday, Jan. 10, and Monday, Jan. 12.
Duxbury’s fifth annual Have Your Say Day meeting will take place this Saturday, Jan. 10.

Details on each town’s meetings are below.

Prepping budgets early

Selectboards and town staff in each town have been working on drafting their budgets in time to share them with the public ahead of deadlines later this month for publishing in town annual reports, finalizing ballots and Town Meeting warnings. By holding meetings early in January, the boards still have time to make revisions to the drafts ahead of those deadlines.

In Moretown and Duxbury, town budgets are decided on Town Meeting Day by Australian (or paper) ballot. Voters in those communities can either vote yes or no on the proposed budget amounts for the coming fiscal year, but there is no opportunity to suggest changes to the proposed budgets when the vote takes place.

Moretown has had that practice for many years; Duxbury only recently shifted all of its voting to the paper ballot.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person town meetings were suspended in Vermont, Duxbury residents voted in November 2021 to end their in-person town meetings, at which all business was conducted. They opted to put all elections and other articles, including the town budget, on Australian (or paper) ballot. They also decided to stick with their pandemic experiment of conducting elections using drive-through voting after it resulted in sustained higher turnout than before the pandemic.

To address the desire for voters to have an opportunity to review, ask questions, and even suggest revisions to the town budget, Duxbury town officials agreed to have a draft budget prepared well in advance of the various January publishing deadlines. They also decided to hold an early January public meeting on a Saturday that looks much like the previous March town meetings: it takes place in the Crossett Brook Middle School cafetetorium with tables around the room for town boards and commissions and community groups to share information; state representatives visit and share brief remarks and take questions; attendees bring pies that Duxbury Historical Society volunteers serve up along with coffee and cider. They dubbed the new January meeting “Have Your Say Day” and started holding them in 2022.

*Select board member Roger Clapp reviews part of the budget presentation at Waterbury’s “have your say day” event last January. Photo by Gordon Miller*

Waterbury explores widening participation

In Waterbury, post-pandemic discussion on Town Meeting Day also raised the issue of finding ways to increase voter participation after pandemic turnout for all-ballot voting was higher than typical.

In 2025, Waterbury town officials decided to follow Duxbury’s example and hold “Have Your Say Day” meetings to preview the town budget. They held two meetings – one on a Saturday morning, another on a Monday evening. Each attracted fewer than 30 people but town officials shared a full slide presentation outlining the draft budget and they answered questions with no significant revisions being proposed.

On Town Meeting Day, Waterbury uses a hybrid approach where only the voters who gather in person can debate and vote on the town budget and other spending questions. Elections for local municipal and school district offices are conducted by Australian (or paper) ballots available all day.

At the 2025 Waterbury town meeting, voters who participated in person debated a question on whether to change the system to put the budget on the paper ballot in the future as well. That would have meant ending in-person meetings with debate that could include making revisions to the budget before a vote is taken.

The issue sparked a lengthy and lively discussion. Ultimately, those in attendance voted overwhelmingly against moving the budget articles to a paper ballot, 144-64, keeping the hybrid system with its in-person budget vote intact.

Yet, the participation in that decision represented just 5% of Waterbury’s registered voters. In contrast, 1,158 voters cast paper ballots to elect town and school officials over a period of 12 hours on that same day – a turnout of 25% of those registered.

Since last March, the Waterbury Select Board has several times discussed the town meeting process and participation, whether there are ways to allow voters to weigh in and discuss town business in detail, while also being more accessible for more people to participate.

Waterbury’s new Town Meeting Study Committee

On Sept. 15, Middlesex Town Moderator, author, educator, and researcher Susan Clark attended the Waterbury Select Board meeting. Clark co-wrote the book, “All Those in Favor,” with UVM political science professor Frank Bryan. Published in 2005, the book remains relevant today in its research on the Vermont Town Meeting tradition and the growing pains communities face as they try to preserve it.

Clark discussed various strategies other communities in Vermont, around New England and elsewhere have employed to bolster community engagement in town meetings. Clark also offered to assist Waterbury officials with exploring possible changes that might result in increased participation.

At the same meeting, Waterbury resident Evan Karl Hoffman, who was a candidate for Select Board in 2025, shared research he did on town meeting trends and participation in Waterbury over the past 65 years. (The ORCA Media recording from this meeting is posted online here.)

Acting on a proposal by board member Roger Clapp, the select board on Dec. 22 decided to pursue this issue and voted unanimously to create a Town Meeting Study Committee for that purpose. The committee ideally would meet twice before Town Meeting Day where further discussion of the topic would take place.

The board is seeking applicants for the committee by this Friday, Jan. 9, with the aim to appoint up to nine members at its Jan. 12 meeting. An additional four members could be added after Town Meeting Day for a total of 13 members. The group would be charged with reporting back by fall with any recommendations that could be presented for discussion and potential action at Town Meeting in 2027. The committee would be in existence just for this exercise.

More details and a link to the application to volunteer to serve on the committee is posted on the town website here.

Below are more details on each of the upcoming special meetings scheduled in Moretown, Waterbury and Duxbury for voters to learn about and weigh in on budget proposals that they will decide on Town Meeting Day.

*Pies are a perk at Duxbury’s Have Your Say Day meetings. Photo by Gordon Miller*

MORETOWN: Three meetings

The Moretown Select Board meets at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, with what’s billed as a “Have Your Say Day” discussion akin to Duxbury’s and Waterbury’s models to preview their draft budget.

The meeting will be held in person at the town offices, 79 School St., and available via Zoom with the link and agenda posted on the town website here. The draft budget is posted on the town website. Voters in Moretown in 2025 approved a budget of $1.89 million. The draft budget proposal reflects an increase of just over 4% at $1.94 million.

Moretown resident Karen Horn is part of a volunteer group working to boost attendance and interest in town meeting there. It includes Town Moderator Steve Magill, Select Board member Don Wexler, John Schmeltzer and Chris Butsch. She explained how Moretown’s hybrid process works, with both an in-person meeting on Town Meeting Day, and Australian ballot voting.

At Moretown’s in-person town meeting on Town Meeting Day, voters gather to vote on standard non-financial meeting articles such as setting dates for tax payments, electing a moderator, and questions related to town governance. They also approve spending items of less than $5,000, Horn explained. Given the format, there is the opportunity for meeting attendees to propose revisions to those items before they are voted.

In Moretown, the paper ballot available all day on Town Meeting Day, contains local and school officer elections as well as the town budget and any spending articles exceeding $5,000.

So Monday’s meeting will give Moretown residents a chance to weigh in on the budget and any items that will be on the paper ballot on March 3 with time for town officials to make changes if necessary.

Moretown also holds a separate informational meeting in February to review what will be on the ballot once those items are finalized, Horn noted. At that meeting, there is no longer a chance to suggest revisions.

Horn said Moretown’s study committee is looking for ways to increase community engagement in the in-person meeting. Last year, the Select Board moved the meeting to 4 p.m. instead of holding it in the morning, she said. “Childcare was provided, and at the conclusion of the very well-attended Town Meeting, an amazing community potluck dinner was eagerly consumed,” she said. “Moretowners welcomed the changes, attendance was certainly up, and many people experienced their first Town Meeting while enjoying the camaraderie of meeting fellow Moretowners.”

This year, Horn said there is interest in possibly having a question for voters to consider moving financial questions with a higher dollar value to the in-person meeting, rather than being on the paper ballot.

The Moretown pre-Town Meeting information session this year is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 6 p.m. at Moretown Elementary School. Town Meeting will again be at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, in the school gym with childcare and a potluck dinner, she said.

DUXBURY: voters have their say on Saturday, Jan. 10

Duxbury residents will gather at Crossett Brook Middle School’s cafetorium starting at 8:30 a.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring a pie to share – all varieties are welcome. Duxbury Historical Society members will serve along with coffee, and donations are appreciated.

*State Rep. Dara Torre, D-Moretown, (standing) addresses the 2025 Duxbury Say Day audience as town selectboard members seated on stage listen. Photo by Gordon Miller*

The meeting begins at 9 a.m., starting with a visit from state legislative representatives who will offer remarks and answer questions. The new session in Montpelier begins this week on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Gov. Phil Scott is to deliver his state of the state address on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The main portion of the meeting is a moderated session with the Selectboard sharing a presentation of the proposed 2026 budget. Audience members may offer comments and questions. Discussion may include other town issues as well.

Town Clerk Maureen Harvey has prepared a packet of information for the meeting that includes the budget draft and a list of offices that will be on the March 3 ballot, along with blank forms and instructions for individuals to use if they wish to be a candidate for office. The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget of $1.17 million represents a decrease of about $130,000 from the fiscal 2026 budget.

Many offices will be up for election on Town Meeting Day in Duxbury: town moderator, four seats on the Duxbury Selectboard, one seat each on the Board of Listers and Cemetery Commission, two Budget Committee seats, two Constable positions, and both seats on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board.

The Have Your Say Day downloadable/printable packet information is posted at the very top of the town website here.

Representatives from various community organizations and town boards will have tables with information and members available. They will include the town Cemetery Commission, the Duxbury Land Trust, the Duxbury Historical Society, the Waterbury Public Library, the town Energy Committee and Waterbury Ambulance Service.

WATERBURY: ‘Budget Adjustment’ sessions Jan. 10 & 12

*Now Waterbury Select Board Chair Alyssa Johnson speaks at last year’s budget preview session at the American Legion. Photo by Gordon Miller*

Waterbury town officials are calling their budget preview sessions, “Budget Adjustment” meetings. They are scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 10, and next Monday, Jan. 12, when Waterbury voters will have a chance to take in a presentation on the draft 2026 town budget, including a breakdown of spending for $1.2 million in estimated local option tax revenues for the coming year.

The Waterbury board has a regular meeting scheduled for Monday, Jan. 5, to finalize the budget draft that will be presented on Saturday. The meeting agenda attachments for Monday’s meeting include the latest option tax proposal and budget drafts, as well as a proposed bond vote question for the Randall Meadow flood mitigation project to augment federal disaster recovery grant funding that the project was recently awarded.

The Saturday session will be held at the American Legion on Stowe Street, starting at 9:30 a.m. The Monday session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Steele Community Room at the municipal building.

Both meetings will also be streamed via Zoom and recorded. Links will be posted on meeting agendas for these dates on the select board page of the town website this week.

Select boards have until later this month to finalize all of the items that will be on the Town Meeting Day ballots. Candidates have until Jan. 26 to submit petitions and forms to have their names placed on the election ballots.

Waterbury, Duxbury, Moretown invite voters this week to preview budgets before Town Meeting Day