The Weekly Record – Dec. 29, 2025
A call to speak up, New Year's events and stories you may have missed on our website
Time to speak up.
It was a quiet week in Hinesburg as we enjoyed the holidays, the food, the fun in the snow. We want to extend our thanks to all of you who have donated to The Record these past few months in support of our effort to bring you new, timely information on this platform. There’s still time to donate and take a tax deduction for 2025.
And as we look to the new year, we’d love your thoughts as to how we can serve you better. This is, after all, a community nonprofit news organization. And, of course, we’re always looking for more people to help: people to write stories, sell ads, take pictures, cover town events and help with social media. If you are interested, email us.
Happy New Year!
And now the news …
The FY2027 Budget
For the last few months, we’ve tried to bring you detailed stories about the upcoming town and school budgets. Our stories on the FY2027 budget can be found by clicking this Budget27 and reading the stories on our website. In summary:
The fire department is seeking a 36 percent increase to add two full-time EMT/firefighters so that it can cover the community 24/7. A big increase, but it will drastically shorten response time in a community that is getting older and where the need for emergency medical responders is increasing. Town Manager Todd Odit said he was going to work with Chief Prescott Nadeau on an alternative plan. At least one selectboard members has called for greater use of volunteers while others have pointed out that perhaps the time has passed for a volunteer-dominated fire department.
Police are seeking a return to 2023 levels – six full-time officers including the chief. This would allow the department to cover the community 24/7 and have more two-person shifts which is safer, particularly in domestic situations. Even then, though, the budget increase does not return the levels of part-time officers the department had in recent years. The selectboard has talked about having two separate ballot items, one for five officers and a second for an additional sixth officer.
The town clerk/treasurer is seeking an additional person to handle its duties with water/sewer billings and sign-ups to allow for focus on needed longterm records organization and digitization. Odit has since proposed upping the hours of an existing part-time town assistant to handle some of those duties. Several selectboard members have suggested reducing public service hours.
The Carpenter-Carse Library, like the Hinesburg Recreation Department, has an employee signing onto the town’s healthcare benefits. The library also is ending its rental of part of its space to expand the community room where library and nearly 200 outside organization programs are held.
And, of course, what to do with the huge increase in the cost of Fourth of July fireworks, now set at $20,000 by the company that sets them off.
The Champlain Valley School District (CVSD), meanwhile, is proposing a ‘level service budget’ that is five percent higher than last year’s budget, largely due to mandated increases in healthcare costs and negotiated raises for teachers. The big unknown – which will remain unknown even in March – is how much this budget, which represents 65 percent of our taxes, will raise our tax rate. That’s because of the state’s complicated reimbursement formula which remains unknown until all the state’s 119 school districts have voted in their budgets.
And the selectboard has begun discussions of a local option tax on sales, rooms and meals.
How do you feel about it all? You can speak directly to the selectboard on Jan. 7 and Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall (and via Zoom). You can speak to the CVSD on Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. in the CVU library (and via Zoom). Mark those dates. And if you write or email the board members, send a copy to us and we’ll publish it.
In case you missed it …
An homage to a grandmother
Columnist Bill Schubart looks back on the life of his grandmother: “Born in 1901, Grammie Couture lived over 101 years. She was the family matriarch, the friend we all turned to when our lives tipped over. …” Full column.
Women’s history matters
An ambitious group of CVU students is pressing hard for women’s history to be part of the curriculum in all Vermont schools. At a presentation in November, they laid out their reasons and their goals. “There is a serious lack of education around women’s history in the curriculum,” said Amelie Fairweather, co-founder of Her Education Required (HER), “so much so that young girls don’t know how to speak up for themselves, don’t know when their rights are being called into question, because they don’t know what their rights are.” Full story.
Carpenter-Carse wins grant
Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg won a $4,800 grant to support a collaborative art project designed to allow participants and observers to engage with ideas around what it means to be an American at this time in history. Full Story.
And coming in January …
The seventh and eighth graders at Hinesburg Community School worked hard this fall on a project called Community Stories, where pairs of students went out and interviewed a community member, took their picture and wrote a story about them. Beginning in mid-January, The Record will begin publishing these stories. Don’t miss them!
Upcoming
Again, not too much in the way of meetings, etc, … but there’s always New Year’s Eve
A few Wednesday New Year’s Eve events nearby …
Burlington Highlight begins at 3 p.m., fireworks at 8 p.m., music, comedy and other events in the afternoon and evening, schedule here: https://highlight.community/#digitalguide
Montpelier: Lost Nation begins drumming and dancing events at 1 p.m. at its venue in the center of town … Blues musician Dave Keller performs solo at 5:30 p.m. at The Unitarian Church.
Middlebury: Soule Monde, a groove-driven instrumental duo performs at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31, at Town Hall Theater.