Mont Vernon school meeting quick and quiet

MONT VERNON – Twenty-five voters passed every article onto the Village School district warrant during a one-hour Deliberative Session Feb. 8. The meeting had been delayed 24 hours because of a snowstorm.

“It was a quiet meeting. There were no amendments and every article passed,” said district moderator Peter King.

On the warrant is a three-year teachers’ contract that gives cost-of-living increases of 3.25 percent, 3.5 percent and 4 percent. The contract would cost the district $80,054 and eliminates the most expensive health insurance plan and adds stipends for after-school activities.

The Village School operating budget is $5 million, an increase of 8.2 percent, attributed to the addition of a classroom teacher, partial dental insurance coverage for paraprofessionals and a 7.2 percent increase in special education costs.

The default budget is $4.9 million.

Another article on the warrant is for a $50,000 budget surplus to be added to the district’s property maintenance trust fund.

The Deliberative Session is the first part of a two-step voting process that will be complete on election day, March 13. In Mont Vernon voting is from 7 a.m. to 7 pm. in the Village School.