1. Selectboard drafts budget to propose to voters. One of the selectboard’s most important duties is to draft the budget of the town. This budget is included in the warning and is then voted at town meeting. In most towns the selectboard asks for input from the various departments. However, the ultimate decision about what to put before the voters for a vote is up to the selectboard.

2. Clerk may petition for article to set compensation. If the clerk is not satisfied with the compensation proposed by the selectboard (and assuming the clerk does not simply receive fees), the clerk may submit to the selectboard a petition signed by five percent of the voters that provides a salary and benefit package for the clerk to be voted on at town meeting. 32 V.S.A. § 1224.

3. Budget committee requires public meeting. A committee appointed by the selectboard to prepare a proposed budget for the board’s review is a public body subject to the open meeting law. This means that the committee must publicly announce its meetings, keep minutes and give the public who attend reasonable opportunity to be heard. 1 V.S.A. §§ 310, 312.

4. Budget committee may act without a quorum. A budget committee appointed by a board may act without a quorum unless the board or municipal charter provides otherwise. Vermont’s quorum rule 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." (Note that in some cases there may be a more specific provision for a board.)1 V.S.A. § 172. Because the budget committee only provides a recommendation to the selectboard and exercises no "authority" the usual quorum requirement will not apply.

5. Towns may vote a specific budget or vote a tax rate. Vermont law gives the selectboard a choice when it formulates its budget for action at town meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2664 provides that a town must "vote such sums of money as it deems necessary for the interest of its inhabitants and for the prosecution and defense of the common rights." The law permits the board either to "express in its vote the specific amounts or the rate on a dollar of the grand list, to be appropriated for laying out and repairing highways and for other necessary town expenses." We recommend that towns vote the specific amount at town meeting rather than the rate on the dollar of the grand list because the grand list may change between the date of the vote and the date the selectboard must set the tax rate.

6. Vote required to spend unexpected revenues. The town’s voted budget gives the town officers authority to spend town funds. No other spending authority exists in law. This means that the school or selectboard cannot spend grants, gifts or interest on investments without specific voter approval. Many towns include an article in the annual warning each year to give the selectboard the authority to spend "unanticipated funds such as grants and gifts".

7. Fire department may petition for additional funds. In one town the municipal fire department was not satisfied with the selectboard’s budget. In their free time (not during work hours), the fire department employees and volunteers passed around a petition to be signed by five percent of the voters to ask for an additional appropriation. (If the budget was voted on the floor they could have simply moved to amend the budget.) The additional appropriation went before the voters, and was passed. In this town the board then gave the department the additional funds, but there is an argument that the selectboard would still have authority to withhold funds allocated to the department in the selectboard’s budget as the budget is authority to spend – not a requirement to spend.

8. Only social service agencies that serve the community may request special appropriations from the town. The general rule is that a town may only spend taxpayer dollars for social service agencies that serve the community. According to 24 V.S.A. § 2691 a town or village may "appropriate such sums of money as it deems necessary for the support of social service programs and facilities within that town for its residents." Note that, despite the statutory language, the Vermont Supreme Court has held that social service agencies physically located outside the municipality may be considered to be social programs within the village or town if the agency serves the residents of the municipality. Addison County Community Action Group v. City of Vergennes, 152 Vt. 161 (1989) (This case also extended § 2691 to cities.)

10. Auditors must be given access to records. Town auditors must meet at least 25 days before each annual town meeting, examine and adjust the accounts of all town and town school district officers and all other persons authorized by law to draw orders on the town treasurer. 24 V.S.A. § 1681. However, many auditors begin their work in early January. The law provides that at any time in their discretion, town auditors may, and if requested by the selectboard, must, examine and adjust the accounts of any town officer authorized by law to receive money belonging to the town. Any town officer who willfully refuses or neglects to submit his or her books, accounts, vouchers or tax bills to the auditors or the public accountant upon request, will be ineligible for reelection and will be subject to possible fines or penalties. 24 V.S.A. § 1686.

11. Auditor meetings must be noticed as public meetings. Meetings of town auditors must be announced to the public as a special meeting of the board in accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law. 1 V.S.A. § 312. Town auditors may perform merely clerical functions outside of an open meeting (i.e. checking accounts, reviewing books, etc.) but best practice is to notice a public meeting of the board whenever a quorum of the board meet to perform auditing functions.

12. Town may hire accountant in lieu of elected auditor. Municipalities may vote to eliminate the office of auditor. In such a case the town must hire a public accountant to perform the duties of the town auditors. 24 V.S.A. § 1690.

13. Selectboard may choose to plow some class four roads. While the law requires a town to "keep its class one, two, and three highways and bridges in good and sufficient repair during all seasons of the year," class four highways may be "maintained to the extent required by the necessity of the town, the public good and the convenience of the inhabitants of the town." 19 V.S.A. § 310. There are some good public policy reasons to decide to limit plowing of class four roads. Selectboards can decide to plow some class four roads but not others if the public necessity so demands. We recommend that selectboards adopt a policy that describes the situations in which it will plow a class four road. A clearly enunciated policy will enable the residents who live on these roads to know what to expect and to know they are being treated equally.

14. Selectboard not bound by policy of previous board. The selectboard may reconsider its road policy or other policies whenever it feels it is necessary. A board is not bound by a previous policy and may change it to reflect what the board believes is the best interest of the community. A person who lives on a class four road has no right to continued plowing even if the road has been plowed in the past.

15. Town should not plow private roads. The recommendation that towns not get in the habit of plowing private roads comes from the rule found in our constitution that public resources may not be used for private benefit. While it is tempting to plow private roads as a courtesy for residents, it is important for towns to make a consistent policy so that all residents are treated equally (remember property on a private road is listed at a lower value than those on the public highway – so they are paying less property taxes because they are not receiving the benefit of road maintenance at town expense.) Also note that a town that maintains private roads over a period of time may be deemed to have acquired the road through "dedication and acceptance."

16. Resident may not put up fence in right of way. In one town a resident was unhappy that the school bus used her road as a turn-around so she constructed a fence in the highway right of way that would prevent the bus from turning around. 19 V.S.A. § 1111 makes it unlawful to construct a fence in the highway right of way. However, the fence may be placed on the landowner’s property – outside of the right of way – even if it prevents the tail end of the bus from making the turn around.

17. The selectboard may construct snow fence to prevent obstruction of highway. When the selectboard determines that a town road may become obstructed by snowdrifts unless a snow fence is erected on land adjoining the highway, it may give the landowner notice and hold a hearing for the owner to discuss the matter, and then the town can go onto the private property to build and maintain the fence for the winter months. 19 V.S.A. § 927. Note that the selectboard may also require a landowner to remove a fence for the winter if it can be done easily, in order to prevent the town highway from being obstructed by snowdrifts as a result of the placement of the fence. 19 V.S.A. § 925. In both cases the board must follow statutory procedures found in 19 V.S.A. § 923 of this title for giving the landowner and others notice, inspecting property, determining need, awarding damages and satisfying appeals.

18. Snowmobiles may only cross plowed roads in unobstructed locations. Vermont’s motor vehicle law provides that a snowmobile may not be operated across or on a plowed public highway unless "the crossing is made at an angle of approximately 90 degrees to the direction of the highway and at a place where no obstruction prevents a quick and safe crossing; and the operator brings the snowmobile to a complete stop before entering the traveled portion of the highway; and the operator yields the right of way to motor vehicles and pedestrians using the highway." Note that in order to cross a public road the snowmobile operator must be 16 years of age or older. Or if over the age of 12, but under the age of 16, the operator must be under the direct supervision of a person 18 years of age or older. 23 V.S.A. § 3206.

19. Snowmobiles may use unplowed public highways. 23 V.S.A. § 3206 provides that a snowmobile may run on unplowed highways if the town road has been opened to snowmobile travel by the selectboard, and the road is so posted by the town. Snowmobiles may also use the unplowed portion of the highway right of way so long as the operator is not closer than five feet from the plowed portion. The selectboard should adopt a clear winter use policy so that all landowners and snowmobile users know what roads may be used in the winter.

20. Town may permit landowner to pent a road. One landowner was unhappy because snowmobilers used the class four road in front of his house at all hours of the day and night, despite the fact that it was a privately maintained class four road that the board had not opened to snowmobiles. 23 V.S.A. § 3206. The board may grant the landowner written permission to put up an unlocked gate across the road to deter recreational use of the road. 19 V.S.A. § 301. (Pent roads were originally created to keep in farm animals where a landowner owned both sides of the road and let the animals graze freely.)

21. Couple cannot keep marriage out of the public record. In one town a couple wished to get married but asked the clerk not to include their names in the public record as they did not want family members to know of their marriage. State law makes the marriage records public records. However, the clerk might agree to keep their names out of the town report. 18 V.S.A. §§ 5012, 5013. (Note that if both members of the couple live in the same town that will be the only town in which they can register their marriage. However, nothing would stop the couple from leaving the state to elope.)

22. Library may keep custody of videos of board meetings. No law would prevent the local library from collecting videos of board meetings and then checking them out to interested residents. So long as the legal record of the meetings – the minutes – were kept by the clerk and made available to the public on request, there is no reason that videotapes of the meeting could not be kept elsewhere.

23. Nominating petitions must include office and term length. In municipalities using the Australian ballot system for election of officers, Vermont law requires that candidates clearly indicate the office and term length on the petition prior to circulating it for signatures. 17 V.S.A. §2681(b). For example, a candidate cannot circulate a petition for selectboard without indicating which term he or she is seeking. It is permissible for a person to circulate two or three different petitions for selectboard, one petition for the one year seat, one for the remaining year of a three year term, and one for the three year term, and then wait until the filing deadline to decide which petition to submit to the town clerk. However, a candidate cannot circulate a petition for signatures without a term length and then add or change the term length after signatures have been obtained.

24. Clerk and treasurer positions must be nominated and voted as separate positions. Even if a person is currently serving as town clerk and town treasurer, these are two separate offices. If your town elects officers by Australian ballot, a separate petition and separate consent form must be submitted for each office and the ballot must have separate articles for each office. There cannot be only one race for town clerk-treasurer on a petition, consent form, or on the ballot.

25. It is permissible for the same person to be elected to serve as town clerk and also as village clerk. Likewise a person can serve as town treasurer and also as village treasurer. There is no statutory conflict and in many situations each municipality benefits from the knowledge and experience of the candidate who has already served in one of the positions. The person must be elected or appointed (if charter so provides) to each office separately.

26. The entrance checklist for the presidential primary on March 4, 2008, must record an R for Republican or D for Democrat to indicate the ballot of the major party chosen by each participating voter. 17 V.S.A.§2704. This is the only election in which the entrance checklist will be marked to indicate the voter’s choice of ballot. This provision is included in the law for the presidential preference primary only.

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