St. Johnsbury Gears Up For Town Meeting Day

St. Johnsbury - Last night, St. Johnsbury held its informational meeting for its upcoming town vote.

 

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St. Johnsbury Town Report

St. Johnsbury’s Town Meeting is coming up on March 3rd, voters are to show up at the St. Johnsbury Welcome Center between the times of 8:00am and 7:00pm.

 

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St. Johnsbury's Lack of New Businesses

ST. JOHNSBURY - Discover St. Johnsbury recently revealed statistics indicating a decrease in new businesses in the downtown area. On a Select Board meeting held on Monday, Gillian Sewake shared their findings from the previous year, noting some downward trends.

 

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Upcoming Town Meeting Day in St. Johnsbury

ST. JOHNSBURY - With Town Meeting Day on the rise, St. Johnsbury’s Town Manager Chad Whitehead has some helpful info for voters. A town warning was recently added to the St. Johnsbury website revealing the upcoming budgetary decisions to be voted on.

 

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St. Johnsbury's Response to the National Shutdown

ST. JOHNSBURY - Last Friday, a national shutdown was called for across all social media platforms by various online personalities.

 

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"ICE OUT" Protest in St. Johnsbury

ST. JOHNSBURY -  Across the nation we are seeing hundreds of protests against I.C.E. Last Saturday, the little town of St. Johnsbury joined in the nationwide protesting. People from around the town gathered outside the police station on all sides of the road.

 

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Vermont's Annual Green Up Day

Saint Johnsbury is getting ready for Green Up Day this Saturday.

 

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Stevie's Spirit (Part 2)

Dozens of folks showed up at the St. J Distillery’s release party this past Sunday.

 

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Summer Flooding Continues to be an Issue for Local Businesses

St.Johnsbury businesses continue to suffer from the flooding this past summer, Planned Parenthood being one of them.

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Stevie's Spirit

The St.Johnsbury Distillery shared how this local brewery and restaurant is about to gain celebrity publicity.

 

 

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St. Johnsbury's Planned Parenthood Closing Soon

Due to many operational challenges, St.Johnsbury's Planned Parenthood is closing July of 2025

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New St. J Signs

St.Johnsbury is replacing the vintage welcome signs within the next few months, but there’s more too it than this.

 

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St. Johnsbury Discusses Proposed Changes to Local Bylaws

Last Monday, St. Johnsbury held a special meeting to discuss changes to their local bylaws, aimed at modernizing the permit process and ensuring alignment with new state regulations, particularly with Act 76. The meeting saw significant public discourse, with concerns raised about the wording and assumptions in the new bylaws.

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St. Johnsbury Receives Positive Report in Latest Audit

The Town of St. Johnsbury held a special meeting last Monday to receive the opinion from its latest audit report. The auditor presented the findings at a Town Hall meeting, commending the town’s financial management and overall transparency.

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Potential St. Johnsbury School District Issues

Proposed Vermont Bill Raises Concerns Within the St. Johnsbury School District

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Umbrella Ribbon Cutting

Umbrella is hosting their first ever ribbon cutting event in celebration of the money raised towards their Capital Campaign, “Root, Nurture, Grow”.

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St. Johnsbury Fiscal Year Finances Revealed at Select Board

A ST. JOHNSBURY SELECTBOARD MEETING WAS HELD THIS MONDAY REVEALING SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOWN’S FINANCES.

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St. Johnsbury Addresses Potholes

St. Johnsbury- As the snow is melting, the town is working diligently to repair the roads.

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St. Johnsbury Major League Tryouts

Danville school is hosting this year's Minor and Major League tryouts for the 2025 baseball season.

 

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St. Johnsbury Town Meeting Day Election Results

ST. JOHNSBURY - Major School Budget Passed in St. Johnsbury Election

This week, residents of St. Johnsbury voted on several different budget proposals, one of the most important being a $30 million school budget that provided a 13% increase in salaries for educators and also decreased the tax rate by 3 cents.

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St. Johnsbury School District's New Budget Proposal

The Saint Johnsbury School District held their annual budget meeting Monday alongside the St. Johnsbury informational town meeting. A handful of local residents, along with several reliant organizations, attended to make their case on budget proposals.

The school’s proposed budget saw a 3.19% increase from this year’s expenditure, down from an original 3.5% proposed budget, which was rejected by the Select Board. The decrease meant cuts in certain areas, which could affect the quality of education.

Karen Konroy, Superintendent of the St. Johnsbury School District, explained: “There were a number of proposed staffing changes with reductions to support students around paraprofessionals. There were a number of unfilled positions that we were trying to hire over multiple years. We just haven’t been able to hire them, but they’ve been in our budget.”

As part of the new budget, several paraprofessionals were removed, along with reductions in student field trips and professional development opportunities.

Even with the budget increase, the tax rate will decrease by three cents due to Vermont’s “weighted pupils” system, which allows for more state funding for students who incur higher costs.

The increased budget also includes plans to raise salaries, health benefits, and transportation for students who require third-party quality care outside of town.

There was no open disagreement with the proposal.

Carl Johnson, a teacher in the district, shared his perspective: “Let’s talk about why education is so expensive. Let’s have that debate. And that’s what we’re here for, right? Health care, that’s the number one! Do you think I like paying more than anyone else in any other industrial country and not getting better results?”

St. Johnsbury's Town Meeting Day

Today, St. Johnsbury residents have the chance to vote on several different budget proposals at the Welcome Center from 8 AM to 7 PM. Along with voting on a variety of town positions, many of which are expected to remain filled by incumbents, residents will also decide on several budgets supported by the town’s taxes.

Many of the proposed budgets for local organizations that are funded locally have maintained the status quo, with many opening statements noting that the budgeted amounts have remained unchanged for years, and in some cases, decades.

The most important budgetary decision on everyone’s mind appears to be the school’s budget increase, which is set to decrease the current tax rate compared to the previous year due to the district having more “weighted pupils” enrolled.

Many residents, including teachers, are advocating for the new school budget proposal, as it overall increases the benefits for educators while lowering the cost of schooling for taxpayers.

Karen Konroy, Superintendent of the St. Johnsbury School District, explained: “[One of] the items that’s used in calculating the tax rate is actually your weighted student. So whereas a lot of schools in the state have seen a decline in weighted pupils… we actually had 4 additional students. So that denominator that we used to divide into our cost per pupil actually decreased our tax rate.”

In addition to the school budget proposal, depending on how today’s vote turns out, St. Johnsbury residents can expect improvements to the city’s water supply through the financing of a more effective pipeline in the Bay Street area. Much of the funding for this project has already been secured, and there is grant money available if the town agrees to it. More importantly, it won’t impact taxes.

 

Saint Johnsbury Receives Grant

ST JOHNSBURY - Saint Johsbury was rewarded a $30,000 recreation from the state.  It is one of twelve towns to receive this grant.

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Huge Upgrade In Fairbanks Museum

SAINT JOHNSBURY- The Fairbanks Museum is almost finishing their new Science Annex.  This is the biggest project the museum has been making since the 1800s.

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Barbershop Moves To New Location

St. Johnsbury- Dan' Barbershop & Shove Parlor is now moving to 36 Eastern Ave. in Saint Johnsbury

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