Town Meeting Day: How 312 Neighbors Passed a Budget in One Afternoon
In my Vermont town, the legislature is everyone who shows up at the school gym on the first Tuesday in March.
On the first Tuesday in March, our town of about 1,400 people closes the school, sets up 400 folding chairs in the gym and governs itself. Last year 312 of us came. We approved a budget of just over 2.1 million dollars, argued for 40 minutes about a fire truck, and broke for a potluck lunch of baked beans and ham.
I have been town clerk for nine years. Before that I was a librarian, and before that a resident who mostly came for the pie. Here is how the day actually works.
The warning
Everything that can be decided at town meeting must be listed in advance in a document called the warning. It is posted in public places at least 30 days before the meeting and printed in the town report, which every household gets in the mail. Each item is called an article.
Some articles are routine: electing a moderator, accepting the town report. Others carry real money: the highway budget, the general fund, a request to set aside 50,000 dollars for a new fire truck. Residents can also petition to add an article if they collect signatures from 5 percent of registered voters.
The moderator runs the room
Our moderator is a retired dairy farmer who has run the meeting for 17 years. He follows a book of parliamentary rules and has a gift for keeping things moving without making anyone feel rushed. Someone makes a motion, someone seconds it, and then anyone may speak. You stand, give your name, and talk. No time limits, but the moderator has a way of looking at you over his glasses that tends to shorten speeches.
The fire truck debate
The truck article was the longest discussion. The fire chief explained that the current truck is 26 years old and failed part of its last pump test. A farmer asked whether we could buy a used one from a larger town. A young mother asked how the cost would affect property taxes. The treasurer did the math on a whiteboard: roughly 38 dollars a year on a 250,000-dollar house.
Someone moved to amend the amount down to 35,000. That amendment failed on a voice vote. The original article passed by a show of hands, about two to one.
What the day is really for
Some articles, especially the school budget in many towns, are now voted by secret paper ballot during the day rather than from the floor. People debate whether that is better: more voters take part, but fewer hear the discussion. Our town does both, and the turnout on paper is higher.
Still, the part I love most is the room. People who disagree about almost everything pass the salt at lunch. The road commissioner gets thanked by name. The eighth graders sell brownies to fund their class trip.
At 3:40 p.m. the moderator banged his gavel and we were done for another year. I spent the evening typing up the minutes. They run to eleven pages, and every word was earned.
