Hancock Voters Vote To Approve Borrowing Funds for Gravel

Hancock Voters Vote To Approve Borrowing Funds for Gravel By Martha Slater

Hancock voters decided Monday evening, Oct. 6 by a margin of 20-6 to approve the Hancock Selectboard’s plan to borrow funds to purchase 10,000 yards of crushed gravel from a local contractor.

The approved amount of $154,789.22 that the town will borrow includes the town’s 10% share of the repair work for the damage caused by the August 6 flood ($43,069.22), as well as the $90,000 cost of the crushed gravel, the cost of trucking the crushed gravel ($16,720), and $5,000 for preparing and closing the site.

The newly-approved article will cost Hancock taxpayers 18 cents per $100 of appraised property value. For example, a Hancock property owner with a house worth $100,000, will pay an additional $180 per year for the next five years.

The voters made that decision at a special town meeting moderated by selectboard chair Jim Leno at the Hancock Town Hall. Leno noted that the board had been approached by Randy Andrews, the current contractor working at Camp Killooleet, about the purchase. Leno said the boartd supported the plan "because of the cost saving, the quality of the material, and its location." The town is currently paying $16 per yard for material that Leno said he felt was far below the quality of that in the proposal.

The town has seven miles of unpaved roads, which need re-graveling on a regular basis. Road foreman Richard Andrews estimated that the new pile of gravel would last about six years.

A second non-binding article, gauging public opinion on whether or not to put an article proposing abolishing the town’s inventory and machinery tax, on the warning for town meeting next March, was also considered. Although this type of tax used to be common practice, Hancock is the only town in the area, other than Middlebury, to have such a tax still in effect.

After discussion, during which several business owners gave their opinion that such a tax could deter new businesses from coming to town, Leno asked for a show of hands. Almost everyone in the room raised their hand in support and the article will be placed on the ballot next spring.

____________