Representative Greer of Bennington updated the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on H.404 on May 2, reporting that voters in the Village of Old Bennington narrowly rejected a motion 30–22 to permit village trustees to negotiate merging the village's road authority with the town.

Greer said about half of registered voters attended the village meeting. He summarized arguments in favor of allowing negotiations: village tax rates have been lower than the town's for about 20 years in part because the village accumulated deferred maintenance, supporters said; merging road responsibility could give the village access to more grants and funding through the Agency of Transportation and the town; and supporters argued merging could reduce overall spending on private contractors for maintenance and construction.

Opponents, Greer said, raised long-standing concerns about prior contractual relationships between the village and the town that led to Acts and Resolves No. 300 and indicated fear the town would not respect the village's historic designation. "People were afraid that the town may use the villages and that increase in the road tax grand list overall without necessarily improving conditions," Greer said, recounting comments at the village meeting. He also said the town told the meeting it was not interested in repeating past contract arrangements.

Greer told the committee many who voted no did so not to foreclose future talks but to allow the village to explore other options first. He thanked the committee for hearing the update and said legislators would support the village's next steps.

The committee received the update; no formal action or vote on H.404 occurred during the meeting.