Town Meeting’s Ayes and Nays
So last week I attended our Town Meeting, which for those of you who don’t live in New England, is an opportunity for all town citizens to come vote on a docket of issues that town leadership presents for approval. Virtually all of the items up for a vote concern the usage of town money, with the town’s operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year being the main issue.
In this town meeting, a group of concerned citizens had proposed an amendment that would effectively reduce the town’s budget it by about $2 million (thereby lowering property taxes). As I explained in my last post, for the past several weeks and even months, there had been a fair amount of contention between this citizen’s group and the town leaders over the budget issue. When the issue came for a vote, a chorus called out “Aye,” affirming the town leadership’s budget, but the “Nays” were loud enough to force a standing vote. Ultimately, the budget amendment proposed by the citizen’s group failed, but I was glad at least there had been some real debate on the issue and a worthy fight. I was, however, a little disappointed because I felt some town folks seemed quite resentful of the citizen’s group for proposing the amendment at all. To that end, I submitted the following letter to the editor which was published yesterday in our local newspaper.
We Need Both the Aye’s and Nay’s
I attended Town Meeting last week and came away remarkably invigorated and proud to be a [town] citizen. I recognize that some of the articles voted on this past week were particularly divisive and that the conversation leading up to Town Meeting had become somewhat cantankerous, particularly regarding the budget articles. But as I listened to the different groups presenting on both sides of the budget issue, I felt a great appreciation for all the energy and thought that had gone into preparing the presentations. The town leaders had clearly put much effort into formulating a budget and a plan for our town. In addition, two citizen-led groups, the [Town] Voters Group (TVG) and Together For the Future of [our town] (TFFT), which both presented their perspectives on the budget articles, also demonstrated the considerable effort they had made in preparation. Both groups had valid viewpoints: TFFT representatives showed their support for town leadership’s proposed budget, arguing that it already reflected deep and painful cuts; TVG representatives didn’t think the cuts went far enough, given that the town’s proposed budget would still increase property taxes by nearly the maximum allowable amount of 2.5%, and so were proposing a smaller budget along with ideas to further cut costs.
Both TVG and TFFT are comprised of concerned citizens who, by all accounts, love living in [our town] and feel they have a right and responsibility to express their viewpoint. I was impressed that these folks who were not obliged to do anything at Town Meeting came to present to us for the benefit of further educating town citizens about the issues and, in the case of TVG, giving voters a choice on the budget issue. Having clear, legitimate choices and respectful debate around them is at the heart of a healthy democracy. And so regardless of how I personally felt about the budget issue, I was glad that when the vote on the budget article was taken, it wasn’t just a “unanimous” outcome. Indeed, I would feel very concerned if I attended Town Meeting where the outcome of every vote taken simply echoed all the “Ayes” that had come before it. We need the “Nay’s” too, and we got them. This is why I left Town Meeting feeling proud to live in [our town].
Have you written a letter to the editor before? What have been your reasons? Please share!
Comments