1. Delinquent tax collector may be paid salary in lieu of fees. In most cases the delinquent tax collector is paid a penalty of up to eight percent as compensation for collecting delinquent taxes for a town. However, a municipality may vote to pay a salary in lieu of fees. In such a case all penalties must be turned over to the treasurer at least once a month. 24 V.S.A. § 1530.

2. Voters may elect to reduce penalty paid to delinquent tax collector. If a municipality wishes to reduce the penalty paid to the delinquent tax collector it may adopt a smaller percent by vote at an annual or special meeting. 32 V.S.A. § 1674. The law would also permit the voters to establish a grace period or graduated commission schedule for taxes paid within a defined time frame after the established time of payment.

3. Voters may not elect to have selectboard appoint collector. Unless a town has a municipal charter or has adopted a municipal manager form of government the delinquent tax collector and collector of current taxes must be elected. (Although the town may elect to have the treasurer serve as collector of current taxes.) No law would permit the voters to elect to permit the selectboard to appoint a collector. Indeed, the law provides that if the town fails to elect a tax collector then the first constable will fulfill the duties of that office.

4. Town may vote to have treasurer collect taxes for the town. The voters of a town may elect to have the town treasurer collect the current taxes for the town and town school district. 24 V.S.A. § 1521. Once the town so votes (and until it votes otherwise) the town should not include on its town meeting ballot an election for a collector of current taxes.

5. Quorum of board required for board action. Vermont’s general quorum rule can be found in 1 V.S.A. §172. This law provides that "when joint authority is given to three or more, the concurrence of a majority of such number shall be sufficient and shall be required in its exercise." This means that unless a more specific statute provides a different rule, a seven member board will need an agreement of four members in order to pass a motion. This is true even if there are vacancies on the board or recusals. 1 V.S.A. § 172. Note that the quorum rule will not apply to advisory boards (unless the board creating the advisory committee requires it) since advisory boards do not have authority to act. By definition they merely provide recommendations to the board that has the authority to act.

6. Quorum for school board differs from the rules that apply to town boards. School boards operate under a special statute, 16 V.S.A. §554, that changes the general rule for board voting. A school board needs a quorum (majority of the board) to be present, but then only requires the majority of those present to vote in favor of a motion for the motion to pass. For example, on a union high school board composed of 15 total members, if only nine members are present at a meeting, only five members need to vote in favor of a motion for it to pass.

7. Board of abatement may act by majority vote of a quorum of the board. Most municipal boards require the concurrence of a majority of the board to act. However, 24 V.S.A. § 1533 provides that only a majority of the quorum of a board of abatement is needed for it to decide a matter. Figuring out how to calculate what constitutes a quorum of the board of abatement can be confusing. Like other municipal boards, a quorum of the board is a majority of all of the members of the board. Members of the board of abatement include the BCA (clerk, selectboard, and justices), the listers and the treasurer. The number of justices depend on the size of your town - so presuming you have 10 justices, plus three selectboard members and three listers the total number of the board would be 18 and a quorum of the board would be 10. The town would therefore need ten people in order to convene the meeting of the board, but it would need only six to agree on a particular course of action. In the alternative, the board of abatement is deemed, by law, to have a quorum if a majority of the listers and a majority of the selectboard members and treasurer are present.

8. A taxpayer is not required to attend the board of abatement meeting. If a taxpayer requests abatement of taxes in writing the board of abatement must meet at some time to consider the request. 24 V.S.A. § 1535. While a taxpayer has the right to attend the meeting or to have a representative act on his or her behalf at the meeting, if a taxpayer has made a written request for abatement which states the reason and supporting information for the abatement request, the statute does not require personal attendance by the taxpayer. The taxpayer should be told that the board may want additional information, or the taxpayer may want to respond to other information presented at the meeting, but if the taxpayer chooses not to attend, the board must still consider the request and take action to grant or deny the request.

9. Board cannot eject member from executive session. In one town a dissenting member of the board routinely informed public and press about what was discussed during their executive session. The board cannot prevent this from occurring. Although the board can publicly express its displeasure, the law does not permit the board to exclude or eject one of its members from a meeting. 1 V.S.A. § 313(b)

10. Board may eject unruly member of public. On occasion a member of the public will disrupt a meeting. In such a case the chair of the board should first try to calm the individual down and restore order. If this is not possible the chair can call on the town constable to remove the individual from the meeting. 1 V.S.A. § 312(h).

11. School board follows Robert's Rules; selectboard can create own procedures. Vermont law requires school board meetings to be conducted using Robert’s Rules of Order. 16 V.S.A. § 554. For small school boards we recommend that the board use Robert’s Rules for Small Boards. In contrast, the law is silent about what procedures the selectboard and other local boards should follow. Accordingly, these boards can adopt their own rules of order. This can be, but does not have to be, Robert’s Rules. We recommend that boards commit to writing the procedures they follow so that all board members and members of the public will know what to expect.

12. Appointment discussions can be made in executive session. The law permits a board to discuss "the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee" in executive session. 1 V.S.A. section 313 (3). Because elected and appointed officials are public officers, the selectboard can go into executive session to consider various applicants for appointment to fill vacancies, or for appointment to town boards. Although the discussion and a straw vote may be taken in the executive session, the actual votes must be taken in the open meeting so that the public can see how board members have voted, and those votes must be reflected in the minutes of the meeting.

13. School board appoints to fill vacancies in school district. When there is a vacancy in the school board the remaining school board members must act within 30 days to fill the vacancy until the next election. A record of the appointment must be given to the town clerk for filing. 16 VSA § 424. Note that this law changed in 2005. Prior to the change, school board vacancies were filled by the selectboard. In the event that there are vacancies in a majority of the members of the board the vacancies must be filled by a special school district meeting; and meanwhile, the remaining board member may draw orders for payment of necessary expenses.

14. Minutes do not need to be taken of executive sessions. The law does not require boards to take minutes of an executive session. However, the vote to enter executive session, including the stated reason for moving into an executive session should be recorded in the minutes, as well as the vote on any action taken after the close of the executive session. 1 V.S.A. § 313.

15. The entrance checklist is public record. The entrance checklist is public record and must be made available for public inspection upon request. In addition, the law requires the checklist to be kept for five years following the election and made available at cost to the public. 17 V.S.A. §2590. Although the ballots and tally sheets may be destroyed 90 days after a state or local election, and 22 months after an election including federal offices, the exit checklist, or if none, the entrance checklist must be retained for five years.

16. Voters or auditors set selectboard’s pay, but selectboard may decide payment schedule. At its annual meeting a town may vote to pay any or all of its town officers for their official services, and they can set the amount. If the voters fail to fix the compensation of a particular officer or of town employees then the selectboard may set the salary. However, the selectboard may not set its own salary. The law provides that in the event that the voters fail to set a salary for the selectboard the auditors may do so. However, if the town has voted to eliminate the office of auditor and the voters fail to fix the selectboard salary then the law permits the board to be compensated at the same rate at which they were compensated during the immediately preceding year. 24 V.S.A. § 933. Note that the selectboard may determine when and how it is to be paid, and they may sign the orders to pay each other’s salaries.

17. Constable’s law enforcement authority is limited to town in which he/she was elected. Constables in Vermont, whether elected or appointed, do not have any law enforcement authority outside of the boundaries of the town in which he or she was elected. State v. Hart, 148 VT 104 (1987). While municipal police officers were given authority by the legislature in 1988 to exercise statewide jurisdiction, constables were not included. A constable should be very careful not to misrepresent his/her authority outside of his town. For example, if a constable represented himself/herself to be a "police officer" with full authority when in a car accident out of state, it is possible that the constable may be charged as impersonating a police officer under a statute in the other state.

18. Municipality may allow constable in neighboring community to work in town. 24 V.S.A. § 1936a (d) permits a municipal legislative body to vote to allow a constable elected or appointed in another municipality to exercise law enforcement authority in its municipality, so long as that constable is not prohibited from exercising law enforcement authority in his or her own community and so long as the constable has completed the training requirements for a full-time or part-time law enforcement officer, and the legislative body adopts policies and procedures establishing the circumstances under which the authority may be exercised.

19. Towns must adopt their own actual cost schedule or use the state schedule. The fee schedule adopted by the Office of the Secretary of State for the copying of public records must be used by each town or city unless the municipality has made its own determination of actual costs using the procedures set out in 1 V.S.A.§326(d) and (e). The current charge is five cents for single sided and nine cents for double sided. You cannot charge more for a copy of the entrance checklist or copies of other public records unless there is a statutory fee established for a category of record or unless the municipality has officially determined its actual costs.

20. Unless your town or city charter provides authorization, there is NO RECALL of selectboard members or other local elected officials in Vermont. However, if you have a three member selectboard in your town and you and other citizens are concerned that the board is not being responsive to important issues that are being raised by the legal voters, then voters can submit a petition signed by at least five percent of the voters on the town checklist asking the selectboard to warn a special meeting to vote on an article to increase the size of the selectboard to five members. 17 V.S.A. §2650. In the petition, the article needs to specify whether you want the two additional members to serve one-year terms or two-year terms.

21. The presiding officer may limit activities in the polling place. The presiding officer establishes rules to maintain order in the polling place and can determine that no other activities may take place within the polling place during an election. 17 V.S.A.§2508. Many voters find it upsetting or distracting to have extraneous conversations and activities taking place while they are trying to concentrate on marking the ballot. We encourage presiding officers to move bake sales, raffles, informational booths or other activities outside of the polling place.

22. As tax appeal time nears, remember that on appeals from the listers' decision to the board of civil authority (BCA), the BCA may increase, decrease or sustain the appraisal. (32 V.S.A. §4409.) Once the taxpayer raises the issue of the property’s valuation, the BCA must make findings to support what the BCA believes to be the correct valuation of the property, even if that is an increase. The same is true for further appeals to the state board of appraisers or the superior court.

23. A lister can be a justice of the peace, but lister/justice of the peace cannot participate in tax appeal hearings. Many small towns have difficulty finding persons to serve in various offices. It is legally permissible (i.e., there is no statutory conflict or prohibition) for a person to be elected as a lister and as a justice of the peace. The lister may take an active role in election duties, except when the person is in a contested race for his lister office. However, the lister cannot sit on the BCA for the purposes of tax appeals because the appeal is from the listers’ determination of value.

24. The time for dog licensing and tags is here. Just a brief reminder that the dog must wear the "license" tag required by the Vermont statutes, and that is sufficient proof that the dog has been vaccinated for rabies. An additional "rabies" tag is not required. (20 V.S.A. §3581(a))

25. Candidate who comes in second does not fill vacancy if winner declines office. If the candidate elected to an office does not want to accept the office to which he or she was elected, whether from the floor or by Australian ballot, the office must be filled by appointment by the selectboard made by motion in a duly warned meeting, or if for school director, by the school board in a duly warned meeting. The town clerk or selectboard DO NOT just ask the second place candidate if he or she wants to accept the office.

26. Board members must take care when they communicate electronically. The issue of whether board members may conduct municipal business electronically is a tricky one. This is because many common practices in the private sector will violate our open government laws when used in the public sector.

The first principal of open government to keep in mind is that no public body may conduct the business of the public body outside of a public meeting; all discussions and decisions must be made in a public meeting.  1 V.S.A. § 312. The only exceptions to this rule are for merely routine administrative matters and for the deliberations of a quasi judicial body. As a practical matter this means a board may use e-mail to set the agenda for an upcoming meeting or to schedule a time for a special meeting, or to pass along documents, reports or letters that will be discussed at the meeting (and that will be available for the public to view at the meeting - unless the document is exempt under the public records law.) In addition, because the deliberations of quasi judicial bodies are entirely exempt from the open meeting law quasi judicial boards may conduct their deliberations and draft their decisions entirely by e-mail. Note that a written decision in a quasi-judicial matter must explain what the decision is and the board’s reasoning behind the decision. The decision is public record.

An exemption for quasi-judicial decisions of boards would not permit the board to make a decision about its rules of procedure through e-mail. This is an administrative action of the board and the discussion and decision in the matter must be held in a public meeting of the board. On the other hand, so long as a quorum of the board is not e-mailing each other all together, and the board does not use e-mail to make decisions, board members may send individual e-mails to each other, other town officials and members of the public about the business of the board. These e-mails are public record (unless an exemption applies to the particular subject matter) and steps should be taken to ensure that they are preserved in accordance with the town’s record schedules. 1 V.S.A. § 317(b). Note that the public record law applies to all e-mails by local officials that are sent or received during the course of agency business that relate to the business of the town — even those sent and received on home computers.