Raymond looks ahead to June town meeting

By Brian Bizier

It’s been one full year since the COVID-19 pandemic upended almost every aspect of our lives, and the novel coronavirus is still disrupting plans large and small. For the Town of Raymond, the pandemic changed the way the town discussed and passed its annual budget. For as long as Town Manager Don Willard can remember, Raymond’s budget has been presented, sometimes debated, and then passed at a Town Meeting in June. In 2020, however, the ongoing pandemic made the Town Meeting impossible, and the budget was presented to citizens on their June ballots.

“It hadn’t been done, that I could find, anywhere in Raymond’s history,” said Sue Look, Raymond’s Town Clerk. The unprecedented situation led to a very long ballot as each budget item got their own line with space for a “yes” or “no” vote. The final ballot presented to voters had a total of 34 questions, and it was a hefty eight pages long.

The final decision about the date for
Raymond's annual town meeting for 2021 rests
with the Raymond Board of Selectmen, who are
expected to either schedule the meeting for
June or vote to conduct summer balloting because
of the pandemic. FILE PHOTO 

“There was probably some level of voter fatigue,” Willard admitted, although he said the town did not receive any complaints from voters. “People understood what was happening,” he said.

In a normal year, Raymond’s Board of Selectman approves a warrant to call a Town Meeting. This warrant, much like the more-familiar arrest warrant, is like a statement of intention. It lists exactly what will be presented and voted on at the Town Meeting, and items that are not included on the warrant cannot be discussed at the meeting.

“Voters have the ability to look at the warrant, read through it, and decide if they need to go and vote on it,” Look said. “If they’re happy with what’s on the warrant, they usually don’t go to the Town Meeting.”

In 2020, of course, the COVID-19 virus cancelled Raymond’s annual Town Meeting. Look and the members of Raymond’s Town Office were then faced with the challenge of turning the 2020 warrant into an eight-page ballot. “It was a lot,” Look admits.

“When the ballots are printed, they aren’t printed in sets, so we had to take page one and match it with page two, then take page three and match it with page four. It was a lot of checking and double-checking,” Look said.

Look admitted that she would prefer to approve the town’s budget this June the old-fashioned way, in a Town Meeting, but she also saw a silver lining to last year’s process.

“By having the budget be on a ballot, more people did look at it than normally would, which is a plus for the democratic process,” Look said. “And if that’s what we need to do again this year, we’ll do it.”

Like so many other aspects of our lives in this strange time, the fate of Raymond’s 2021 Town Meeting now relies on what happens with the pandemic.

“If the pandemic continues without a resolution that would permit close proximity, in-person, consideration of the issues,” Willard said. “We’ll be back to a secret ballot this summer.”

The final decision about Raymond’s June Town Meeting for 2021 rests with the Raymond Board of Selectmen, who are expected to make their announcement later this spring.

Meanwhile, the proposed budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year is already available on the Town of Raymond’s website.

This budget lists five primary goals: First, maintaining or lowering the tax rate. Second, continuing commitment to improvement and maintenance of the Town roads. Third, undesignated fund balance can be utilized within existing policy to accomplish priority number one. Fourth, all budget areas are on the table for discussion and review. Fifth, core services driven budget.

“There’s nothing big or startling in there,” Willard said. “In view of the pandemic, we’re keeping existing programs going and not rolling out any big projects.” Don Willard also noted that questions are always welcome, and he goes so far as to list his personal cell phone number on the Town of Raymond’s website.

So, while the future may still feel uncertain, citizens of Raymond will certainly have a chance to voice their thoughts on the proposed town budget for 2021-2022, whether in person at the traditional June meeting or through another secret ballot. <