By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer
Bridgewater voters will gather at the Bridgewater Community Center at 76 Southgate Loop for a traditional Town Meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 3. All town business will be conducted by a floor vote, retaining the bastion of in-person, participatory democracy in the community.
There will be five matters on the agenda for the official Bridgewater Town Meeting this year, followed by an advisory and discussion session on other matters not formally detailed on the meeting warning that was posted publicly last Friday.
Three public offices will be up for grabs. Chief among the posts is a three-year slot on the town selectboard. Incumbent Steve Tarleton told the Standard Sunday that he has not yet decided if he will run for reelection. A three-year post as a cemetery commissioner and a one-year term as town constable are also up for election. Nominations of all candidates will occur from the floor of the Town Meeting.
Voters at the Bridgewater meeting will also be asked to okay a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget for the town totaling $1,798,734, of which $281,550 will be raised via non-tax revenues and $1,517,184 is to be garnered from taxes. That represents about a 1% decline in the taxes that were derived from the $1,826,330 budget that Bridgewater voters authorized for FY2026 at the 2025 Town Meeting last March.
The town will also ask voters to appropriate $20,750 to six local, regional, and statewide social service organizations, including the Spectrum Teen Center ($750), Ottauquechee Health Foundation and Senior Solutions ($2,500 each), the Woodstock Recreation Department ($3,000), the Norman Williams Public Library ($5,000), and the Woodstock Area Council on Aging at the Thompson Senior Center ($7,000).
Upon the completion of the annual, official town business meeting, attendees are expected to take up other matters in an advisory capacity, including a proposal from a group of petitioners in Bridgewater to declare the town an “Apartheid-Free Community” in relation to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza and on the West Bank of the Jordan River.
