The Wilmot town meeting was supposed to start at 7:00 pm – at five past, residents were still lined up outside the historic town hall waiting to register. Inside, chatted centered on the high attendance and high taxes.

“To have this many people still waiting to get in, it’s big,” said Elizabeth Kirby, president of the Wilmot Historical Society. “It’s an unusually large turnout.”

Residents turned out because of the almost 11% hike in the operating budget this year. 

“I’m worried that taxes are creeping, creeping, creeping – from ‘22 to ‘23, our taxes increased over 13%, and we know that taxes are going to increase, because of schools because they always do, they’re going to increase because of our operating budget, that is going up 10% at least, which is greater than inflation last year,” said Heather Mather. “So it’s just all this creep in our taxes, and I’m just concerned about where it’s going to end up.”

The three biggest spikes were in legal expenses, insurance, and the police department.

Selectboard members Tom Schamberg and Jonathan Schwartz explained that the $22k rise in the legal budget was due to a lawsuit that the town is facing over a road dispute.

The proposed operating budget of $1,962,105 passed, but not without a long debate on whether the police department should receive the funds for an additional police officer. Currently, the town has only one officer and relies on state police to make up for missing coverage.

Residents who spoke in favor of the proposed police budget cited the long wait time for the state police, anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, if they come at all, as one of the key reasons that the town requires more officers. They also brought up the fact that the population has more than tripled since the  1970s when the town hired its first police officer.

Curt Cummings asked the town to look towards nearby Salisbury, which has a similar population size and zero town police officers. The town relies entirely on the state for police coverage.

“I have friends and family that live in Salisbury and they’re completely fine,” Cummings said. “I don’t know, I kind of feel like fear-mongering [has] been happening tonight. I’ve been living here since 2013 and my taxes have over tripled, so I’m not really cool with any more taxes.”

The town approved spending for paving and a new grader vehicle and agreed to go forward with additional small projects while in the process of the town building complex construction project already funded.

Kirby spoke in support of a measure to build a “historically appropriate” building on recently cleared land to store the historical society’s collection so it would be open to the public. It would also house offices for the society.

“Over the years, we have acquired a number of very interesting and unique articles, and the small space that we have is totally inadequate for our needs,” Kirby said.

Wilmot residents expressed a desire for a clearer plan and more concise language. The article failed.