The legal voters of the Town of Colchester, Vermont are notified and warned to meet at the Colchester High School Auditorium, Laker Lane, in said Town on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 7:00 PM to act on Articles 8-12 not involved in voting by Australian ballot. 

The legal voters of the Town of Colchester, Vermont are notified and warned to reconvene at the Colchester High School, Laker Lane, in said Town on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, for voters in District 19 and District 20 to vote for Town Officers and to transact any other business involving voting by Australian Ballot with voting to begin at 7:00 a.m. and to close at 7:00 p.m. (Early voting information below.)

1) Request a ballot from the state online and vote by early/absentee ballot. 

2. Request by phone at 802-264-5520 to have your absentee ballot sent by US Mail.

3) Obtain ballot in-person at the Town Clerk’s Office at the Colchester Town Offices, 781 Blakely Road, M-F, 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 

Completed ballots can be:

The Town's elected Selectboard has proposed one Town article to be voted on by ballot this year, the Town Municipal Services Budget. You will find additional information below.

“Shall the voters of the Town of Colchester approve total general fund expenditures of Fifteen Million, Nine Hundred Thirty-Seven Thousand, Two Hundred Seventeen Dollars ($15,937,217) of which Thirteen Million, Three Hundred Ninety-Four Thousand, One Hundred Ninety-Four Dollars ($13,394,194) shall be raised by taxes and Two Million, Five Hundred Forty-Three Thousand, Twenty-Four Dollars ($2,543,024) by non-tax revenues for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025?”

The Proposed FY25 Municipal Services Budget:  The proposed FY25 municipal services budget maintains the current level of town services and addresses: 1) additional resource needs in the Colchester Police Department due to having the highest rate of calls per officer of any department in Chittenden County; 2) expanding needs in public safety and other town departments to address increased cybersecurity threats, departmental specific software and network connectivity; 3) additional human resource staff to address a sustained higher rate of employee turnover due to societal changes; and 4) funding for the fourth full-time firefighter that was hired in June 2023 but not included in the FY24 budget.

With retirements and leadership changes in the Colchester Police Department, we took the opportunity to reassess the current and future needs of the Department.  The FY25 proposed budget includes additional resources to allow for a more efficient and effective way to manage staff while maximizing the time spent by sworn officers to actively engage in proactive community policing efforts and reduce the calls per officer in support of retaining and attracting police officers.

The decision to hire a Fire Chief that oversees both the fire and rescue departments provided an opportunity to reassess the most efficient and effective way to manage those resources while increasing collaboration among the public safety departments.

The tax impact of the municipal services budget, along with the previously approved capital items, is a 4.6% increase to municipal services property taxes. Examples of the impact are noted below:

The Town Municipal Services Budget is comprised of twenty-five service areas. The planned expenditures for three of the service areas have been reduced, one remained the same and four increased by $5,000 or less.

Tax Rate: The Town Municipal Services Budget and Capital Funding total $14,540,588 net of non-property tax revenues. With an estimated 1.02% growth in the Grand List, the estimated municipal services tax rate for FY 2025 is $0.6381. The tax rate is estimated to increase by $0.0282 (a little less than three cents per $100 of assessed property value) or a 4.63% increase over the prior year.