BRADFORD—In the fourth round of voting, the Oxbow Unified Union School District finally has a budget approved for the fiscal year that began over six months ago.
In balloting that was completed on Jan. 13, 552 residents in Bradford and Newbury voted to approve the $16,780,183 budget. There were 351 votes against the budget. There were 904 total ballots with one spoiled.
In Bradford, there were 208 absentee votes and 308 walk-ins. In Newbury, there were 226 absentee votes and 162 walk-ins.

ORFORD—A proposed Rivendell budget would move all of the district’s 6th graders to Rivendell Academy and restore afterschool and summer school programs, but reduce the number of staff in the district by nearly four full-time positions.
A public hearing on the draft budget is scheduled for Jan. 19, after this edition’s press deadline. The board could still make adjustments to the budget before sending it to voters in March.
Last week, school board members held a special meeting to preliminarily approve an $11,981,796 operating budget. In addition to expenditures under federal grant programs and nearly $240,000 in food service expenses, the district could ask voters to approve over $12.7 million in spending for three schools and the central office—a 7.2 percent increase over the current year.

FAIRLEE—A raise in pay for town employees in Fairlee was the major topic of discussion during a budget hearing on Jan. 11.
Fairlee Selectboard member Cathy McGrath told the two dozen or so people who had checked into the Zoom meeting that the board had decided not to bestow cost-of-living raises in 2021. Most of the audience was employed by the town or represented a municipal department.
“We’re not doing cost-of-living raises because it [last year] was an incredibly unusual year,” McGrath explained. “Many taxpayers have been furloughed or had hardship, and this is a reflection on what’s available in the pocketbooks of the taxpayers. Many people, including myself, have been impacted by loss of work.”

NEWBURY—Even six months after a terrible car crash, there are still plenty of signs and posters proclaiming “Sierra Strong” across the landscape.
As well as an encouragement to Sierra Longmoore and her family, they are a reminder of the determination and will to live and the combined prayers of those who support her.
Everyone wants to know about her journey and how she is doing.
The recovery of Sierra Longmoore has been nothing short of miraculous.

NORTH HAVERHILL—“The vaccine is the thing that will end this,” Grafton County Nursing Home Administrator Craig Labore said in a recent interview with the Journal Opinion.
The first COVID-19 vaccination clinic for GCNH staff and residents came earlier than expected, bookended by positive COVID-19 test results in nearly a dozen staff members.
On Dec. 14, a total of five staff members tested positive for Covid through GCNH’s standing testing practices.
The individuals were all asymptomatic, and Labore said he could not speak to the origin of the transmissions. Upon learning of the results, Labore said they notified the nurse they work with at the NH Department of Health and Human Services and arranged for facility-wide testing for staff and residents. These tests all came back negative. The initial five staff members were able to isolate and return to work once the period of concern was over.