St. Johnsbury Gears Up For Town Meeting Day

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Created on Tuesday, 03 March 2026 07:50

Written by Asher Ballantine

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

At the meeting the school district as well as the town gave a presentation on how the year went and provided reasons as to why areas needed to have budget increases.

A prominent increase came from the St. Johnsbury school district where it sees an approximately 8% more spending per pupil, which will change the tax rate by around 7%.

Superintendent Karen Conroy, mentioned the efforts the school district made to compromise and limit the impact the budget was to have on voters while maintaining the best approach to the community’s learners.

The reason for this came mostly out of an increase of salaries both for general and special education, where new positions were needed.

Superintendent Karen Conroy, reported on many of the strengths of the district citing consistent enrollment, successful programs and the cost per pupil has remained below state averages.

On the town’s side of things; there is an expected tax increase of 3.64% within the special services zone for homes under $100,000, and a 5.94% increase for properties that fall outside that zone.

Town manager Chad Whitehead, reported on the strong infrastructure improvements St. Johnsbury has made over the last year. Noting a shift in the town over the last two decades to improve its community.

There were also many presenters at the meeting, giving their time for their specific appropriations, many of whom did not substantially increase their funding ask from previous years.

Today, votes are about to commence and we will be updating you shortly on reactions and responses by the end of the day.