Vermont Towns Vote on Bonds, Budgets, Taxes
Voters across Vermont will decide several local ballot measures on Election Day, November 3, 2026.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in City Hall
Live Poll
Would you vote to approve a new local school bond or budget in your community?
Voters in Vermont communities will decide multiple local ballot measures on Election Day, November 3, 2026. The measures include a nearly $55 million bond for a new career center in the Central Vermont Career Center School District.
Why it matters
The votes will determine how several Vermont school districts, towns and libraries fund facilities and operations. Voters previously rejected a more expensive $149 million career center plan, shaping the current proposal.
The Central Vermont Career Center bond totals almost $55 million, compared with the previously rejected $149 million project. Barre Unified's proposed $56.6 million budget is about $1.2 million lower than the budget voters rejected in September, and results of all votes remain unknown until Election Day.
The players
Central Vermont Career Center School District
A Vermont school district that operates career and technical education programs serving students from multiple member high schools.
Barre Unified Union School District
A Vermont school district serving Barre, whose budget voters have rejected three times.
The details
The Central Vermont Career Center bond would keep the existing career center at Spaulding High School in Barre and add a new building at U-32 High School in Montpelier. Separately, the Taconic and Green Regional School District will vote on selling the shuttered Sunderland Elementary School to a private developer for $50,000, a sale the Sunderland Select Board declined to pursue.
Timeline
2025: Voters rejected the $149 million career center project.
September 2026: Voters rejected the Barre Unified school budget.
November 3, 2026: Vermont towns vote on bonds, budgets and taxes.
Political Context
The new $55 million career center bond follows voters' 2025 rejection of a $149 million plan, which they opposed as too expensive and disliked for its location. Barre voters have also rejected the school budget three times, showing a pattern of local resistance to rising education costs.
Vermont residents in the affected districts will see whether their school budgets, bonds and taxes take effect after November 3, 2026. A passed 1% local option tax in Bennington, Essex or Hinesburg would change local tax bills, while approved bonds would finance facility projects.
The takeaway
Vermont voters have shown they will reject proposals they see as too costly or poorly located, so local officials have been scaling projects back. Residents who want to influence the outcome should review their town's specific measures before Election Day.
What happens next
Voters in the affected Vermont communities will cast ballots on November 3, 2026, and results will determine whether the proposed measures pass.
Further reading
For more on how local ballot decisions are shaped, see City Hall coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Vermont Public.
Live Poll
Would you vote to approve a new local school bond or budget in your community?
