On a beautiful evening in Vernon, cars lined up so people could weigh in on the town’s proposed 2020-2021 budget.
“I think it’s really different but I think it’s creative and it’s good to see the public still has input,” said Anne Fischer of Vernon.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, drive-thru voting was offered, as well as a virtual public hearing.
Voters could pull up to a station outside Rockville High School, show their ID and then give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the $94 million budget.
People who walked up could also take part.
“It’s important because of democracy,” said Mayor Dan Champagne (R).
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Champagne said the town wanted people to still have their say even if the governor has suspended some in-person voting requirements because of the coronavirus.
In fact, they used a similar setup for a different issue back in March.
“The night we had it up in Rockville it was a lot quicker than the old polling booths,” said Gordon Gibson of Vernon.
The mayor said in a typical year about 40-80 people show up for the budget vote.
This time more than 100 expressed their civic right.
“I think it’s important for a person to go out and vote. Once you take that away I think people get more offended, even if they weren’t going to vote, that you took their right away,” said Mayor Champagne.
This budget was a small increase over the current one and there was no change to the single mill rate.
It passed 106 to four.