Granville Voters Approve Smaller
School Budget, Send Message
By Martha Slater

When Granville voters gathered Tuesday, March 6 at 5 p.m. at the Granville Town Hall for their annual school district and town meetings, they didn’t just decide on a school budget figure. By virtue of the figure they chose, they also almost certainly decided the fate of their small and historic school.

At the beginning of what turned out to be a three-hour school meeting, Granville School Board chair Tammie Beattie read a statement noting that, earlier that day, Hancock voters had approved a school budget amount based on tuitioning out their K-12 students. Since the towns of Granville and Hancock have had a contracted joint school district for the past several years, in order to share costs, the Hancock vote had definite implications for its neighbor to the north.

"Tonight we have the challenge of deciding the fate of our little school," Beattie said. She distributed proposals showing the cost projections for a total of five options, including the two warned articles, as well as scenarios keeping the school open standing alone for students in grades K-6 ($868,278) or standing alone with grades 1-4 ($869,895).

After a paper ballot vote of 64-10 defeated the warned Article 2 asking approval for a budget of $454,393 for support of the Granville-Hancock Joint School District, voters decided to amend Article 3. They changed that warned figure of $872,549 to $760,000; which was the amount the board had said was needed to close the Granville School and tuition out the town’s 46 students in grades K-12 ($732,503); plus transportation costs. They also voted to change the wording to remove the wording "including the Granville-Hancock Joint District Assessment." That amended article passed by a paper ballot vote of 53-28.

Kristi Fuller, one of the two new school board directors elected at the meeting, pointed out that the vote had actually been for a dollar amount to run the school and not on a specific course of action to close it. However, when she asked for feedback from those present, closure of the school appeared to be the prevailing sentiment. David Bagley was also elected to the school board and Kathy Werner was elected school treasurer.

Town Meeting

After the supper break partway through the evening, with donations to benefit the Moss Glen Grange, the town business portion of the meeting got underway, and Steve Werner was promptly re-elected as moderator.

The town budget of $224,941 passed on a voice vote. Voters also approved $20,000 to increase the capital fund for the replacement of the East Granville Handly Road Bridge; and $4,000 to supplement funds needed for reappraisal of the grand List in 2008.

Following a lengthy discussion, voters agreed to amend an article calling to transfer within the Carl Morse Fund the current balance of $9,100 in the sand shed account to an existing buildings and grounds maintenance account, and to close the sand shed account.

The Granville Vol. Fire Dept.’s request for $11,000 to install a septic system in the summer of 2007 and to do interior plumbing and wood framing/carpentry for the summer of 2008; was denied by a paper ballot vote, 36-26. However, voters did approve $3,000 for the department’s capital fund for fire equipment.

Norm Arseneault was re-elected for a three-year term on the selectboard, in a paper ballot vote of 45-18 over Jim Dague. Other town officers elected included Kathy Werner, town clerk and town treasurer; Preston Bagley, lister; Julianna Jennings, auditor; Chris Martin, second constable; Nancy Needham, delinquent tax collector; Roger Stauss, town grand juror; John Pikulski, agent to prosecute and defend suits; Rhoda Stockwell, cemetery commissioner; and Michelle Brown, library trustee.

Voters gave the nod to new due dates for municipal and education taxes (Sept. 15, Jan. 15 and May 15); appropriated $250 for the Hancock-Granville Food Shelf, and also agreed to continue the exemption from property taxes for the Moss Glen Grange.

Finally, since it appeared that the town would soon have an unused school building to deal with, voters decided to authorize the town planning commission to "develop a master plan encompassing the town facilities, including an accurate budget and funding strategy, along with a phased construction plan."

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