1. Ballot issues may be discussed during floor vote. Vermont law was amended in 2008 to allow public discussions of ballot issues (other than election of candidates) to be permitted on the day of the annual meeting regardless of the location of the polling place. 17 V.S.A. §2640. This means that at March Town Meeting, voters will be able to discuss budget articles and other public questions even while voting on these ballot questions is taking place by Australian ballot in the same room or building.

2. Clerk may remove name of deceased candidate from ballot. In towns using Australian ballots for election of local officers, if a candidate who has submitted a petition dies before the ballot is printed, the town clerk can remove the name from the ballot. If the result is that there are no candidates for that office on the ballot, a person must receive write-in votes of at least 30 or one percent of the checklist in the town in order to be elected. If no write-in candidate receives enough votes, then the selectboard must appoint to fill the vacancy until an election is held. 17 V.S.A. §2682(c) and 24 V.S.A. §963.

3. Clerk must announce the printing deadline for town meeting ballots. In towns using Australian ballots for election of local officers, the town clerk must publicly announce the printing deadline for the ballots. 17 V.S.A. §2412. If a candidate submits a withdrawal after the withdrawal deadline, but before the printing deadline that was announced, the town clerk should notify the printer to remove the name from the ballot. (Book of Opinions, page 70.) If a candidate submits a withdrawal after the printing deadline, his name will remain on the ballot. The candidate can publicly announce his withdrawal and can encourage voters to make a different choice. If elected, the candidate can resign and the selectboard would then fill the vacancy until the next election is held.

4. Selectboard may submit a decomposed budget for vote. As the result of a court case last year the legislature revised state law to make it clear that a budget may be presented to the voters in one or more articles. As a practical matter this would permit the selectboard or school board, or the voters by petition, to carve off pieces of the budget for individual vote at the annual meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2680(c).

5. No vote is required to permit selectboard to apply for or spend grants and gifts. In 2007 the legislature amended state law to give selectboards the ability to apply for grants and to expend grants and gifts without requiring them to go back to the voters for permission. This change was necessary since the town budget provides the board with the authority to spend. Consequently, a board could not spend grants or gifts without a vote providing them with the additional spending authority. The new law provides that "The selectboard may apply for grants and may accept and expend grants or gifts above those which are approved in the town budget." 17 V.S.A. § 2664.

6. Board may meet in deliberative session so long as final decision is written. A board may meet and make its decision in deliberative session so long as it is acting as a quasi- judicial body, and the decision of the board is in writing. The decision should include findings (the facts that the board believes are compelling) and the conclusion. It should also name who has participated in making the decision, indicating those who may have dissented. A deliberative session is not an "executive session" from which the public is excluded, but where no decisions can be made; rather, it is a total exemption from the open meeting law. And, unlike the executive session, in deliberative sessions the board DOES take action and DOES make decisions.

7. Budget committee requires public meeting. The 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 a reasonable opportunity to be heard. 1 V.S.A. §§ 310, 312.

8. 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 requires 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." 1 V.S.A. § 172. Because the budget committee provides only a recommendation to the selectboard, this quorum requirement will not apply.

9. 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, since the grand list will likely change between the date of the vote and the date the selectboard must set the tax rate.

10. Selectboard and school board draft budgets to propose to voters. One of the selectboard and school board’s most important duties is to draft budgets. This budget is included in the warning and is then voted at the annual meeting. In most towns the boards 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 or school board.

11. 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 brought a petition of five percent of the voters for an additional appropriation. (If the budget was voted on the floor they could have simply moved to amend the budget.) Voter approval of the additional appropriation in effect overrules the selectboard’s budget. Note that 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. However, if the budget was amended on the floor, or if the budget line items are voted individually, the board would be bound to spend the money appropriated for the fire department.

12. 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).

13. Social service agency does not have to petition if selectboard agrees. An organization’s request for a town appropriation can be placed on the ballot in one of two ways. An agency can bring a petition, signed by five percent of the voters, to the selectboard by the 40th day before the date of the meeting. 17 V.S.A. § 2642(b). In the alternative, the selectboard may, on its own motion, include in the warning appropriations for non-profits that serve the town. Some selectboards have an established policy about when it will include an appropriation request on the warning without petition. A typical policy is to automatically place on the warning the previous year’s appropriations. In these towns, any non-profit that had not previously been given funds by the town, or an organization that wishes an increase in funding must still petition the town to get on the ballot.

14. Auditors must be given access to records. Town auditors must meet at least 25 days before each annual town meeting to 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 to reelection and will be subject to possible fines or penalties. 24 V.S.A. § 1686

15. 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 (ie. 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.

16. 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.

17. Selectboard not bound by policy of previous board. The selectboard may reconsider its road policy 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.

18. The selectboard may construct snow fence to prevent obstruction of highway. When the selectboard determines that town road is liable to be 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 they can go on 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.