by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Supporters of a self-governance pilot program modeled after West Virginia’s say it would allow towns to take a more flexible, creative, and responsive approach to their daily business.
If passed, S106 (its counterpart is H241) would establish a 10-town self-governance pilot program. This program would grant the participating municipalities more local authority. The initiative is being spearheaded by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, but had its genesis in Brattleboro.
First, why would municipalities crave such a bill? It could expand their ability to create local solutions to local problems. In most cases, before making a change on the local level, municipalities need to turn to the state for permission or go through the process of creating an ordinance.
For example changing a road’s speed limit.
Why?
Vermont is one of a handful of Dillion States. In broad strokes this means that municipalities’ authority is limited to what the state has specifically granted. In comparison, the authority of municipalities located in states with “home rule,” is limited only by what state law prohibits.
S106, if passed, would establish a self-governance pilot program. Towns would submit a self-governance plan to a state oversight board. From these plans, the board would choose 10 towns to participate. The pilot would last five years.
The bill has passed the state Senate and is with the House Committee on Government Operations. Windham County Senator Jeanette While sponsored the Senate bill. Brattleboro’s three House Representatives, Mollie Burke, Emilie Kornheiser and Tristan Toleno, sponsored the House version.
Dillion’s rule has “restricted how nimble, responsive, and creative we can be,” Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell said.
For almost a year, Brattleboro has worked with other towns to develop more avenues to respond to local issues. For Brattleboro, this action grew out of a desire to create more revenue streams to take pressure off the residential property tax. According to former Selectboard Chair Kate O’Connor, residential property taxes funded 85 percent of the fiscal year 2020 municipal budget.
Elwell said that the VLCT joined the conversation and eventually found a “limited home rule” pilot program used in West Virginia.
Similar to what S106 proposes, the West Virginia model established a five-year pilot program that allowed participating towns limited self-governance. According to Elwell, the first pilot program started with four towns in 2008. Five years later, the legislature reviewed the program and expanded it to 34 towns. Elwell said that the program has proved successful in West Virginia. The state recently adopted a bill that would allow all towns limited self-governance for 10 years, he said.
In Brattleboro, at least, the bill has received strong support. The Selectboard and local Representative Town Meeting Members have formally shown their support. Elwell said another dozen communities have also adopted formal statements of support.
If approved, the self-governance pilot would allow towns to “address local needs with local action,” he said.
It’s ironic that Vermonters pride themselves on the power of local governance and yet, the state has most of the power, he said.
In many cases, when a municipality wants to change something, such as a parking space, it needs to go through an ordinance process, Elwell explained. That process can take weeks which increased the time and money the municipality expends. This is a good process when a town seeks to change its laws, he continued, but it can be “excessively bureaucratic” when trying to add three parking meters to a street.
Examples of where municipalities could put self-governance to work include roads and parking, code enforcement, residential building health and safety standards, and how revenue is collected, Elwell said.
An example of something Brattleboro would like to implement is how it collects fees and fines. Many of the town’s smaller fees and fines go unpaid and together can add up to hundreds of dollars, Elwell said.
According to Elwell residents have little incentive to pay the fees, such as a code violation levied against a landlord, because the town has little authority to enforce the collection. The only strong authority it has is to seize property when an owner hasn’t paid his or her taxes.
Brattleboro would like to establish a process where the first dollar of a property tax payment goes to paying off fines, the next dollar pays off fees, and then the remainder of a payment goes towards the resident’s property tax bill.
The reason for the prioritizing is that people want to protect their property, Elwell said.
Elwell said even with the pilot program, the state will still “hold all the cards when it comes to authority.”
But, he argues, this pilot program could also help the state. In Elwell’s view, it’s a distraction for the state to have so much on its plate.
“We have different levels of government for a reason,” he continued. Municipalities focusing on local issues would free up time for the state to focus on more big picture governance, Elwell said.
Olga Peters is a freelance writer from Windham County.