I have known Oscar Heller for several years and am very happy he is running for the three-year seat on the Selectboard. He is a good listener and always has a positive attitude.

I hear his concerns about the town spending down reserves and deferring things, all to keep the tax rate artificially low. I say “artificially” because if you defer something that is needed all you are doing postponing the inevitable and probably increasing its cost. I think the better way to go about it is to find ways to decrease on-going expenses.

I am an RTM member and the Finance Committee is an RTM committee. The current selectboard has chosen to stonewall the committee’s recommendations rather than air them and discuss them openly. And it was on-going expenses the committee wanted the board to reconsider. It makes sense now to put Heller, the Finance Committee chair, on the Selectboard.

Heller is running against Jill Stahl Tyler, who does wonderful work welcoming foreign exchange students. But I remember her stance on the Act 46 forced merger in 2017 and the way she ignored input from voters. I don’t want to see this repeated on the selectboard.