To the Editor:
Once again the "democracy" of Town Meeting has become an avenue for a passionate minority (less than 10 percent) to impose its will over the majority.
While the two floor amendments pale in comparison to the attempt of a few years ago to add $450,000 to the budget (which fortunately failed but by only 17 votes), they indicate a lack of respect for the hours of work by the select board to come in with a budget in line with inflation which chose a definite expense (summer road work) over a possible conservation opportunity.
There are at least three options to address this problem:
1. Do nothing - easy and painless
2. Australian ballot on the town budget - while the town survey indicated 62 percent support for dealing with this issue, the select board at the time voted not to call a special meeting to address this issue.
3. Limits to floor amendments - say $5,000 maximum with anything above that (assuming voter support) being deferred to next year's budget. While not a perfect solution, in this writer's mind, option three is a compromise that attempts to satisfy the passionate minority to whom Town Meeting is special while protecting the interests of the majority who by a factor of three to four times the vote for select board members.
Deri Meier
Waitsfield
