Among the articles for town consideration is one that requests the establishment of a town "livable wage" policy in addition to a Moretown healthcare fund, a Moretown governance charter and tax reduction article and a Moretown earned revenue checks article.
The proposed healthcare fund article asks the voters to "make available, from time to time, a small percentage of the annual interest from the Capital Savings Fund in order to provide community assistance to Moretown residents who are in need of medical care, and who are not in a position to adequately pay for such care on their own."
APPLY FOR ASSISTANCE
Residents will be able to apply for assistance by writing the town service officer or a select board member and assistance will be awarded subject to a majority vote of the select board, according to Van Deusen. The annual amount of awarded assistance will not exceed 3 percent of the annual interest of the Capital Savings Fund, the report indicates.
The third proposed article reads:
"Shall the people of Moretown direct the 2010 select board to draft a governance charter that seeks to empower Moretown to set the tax rate for town residents at a lower rate than is set for second home owners? Such a governance charter will be presented to the Vermont General Assembly, subject to the final approval of the voters as expressed at a duly warned town meeting."
LANDFILL TIPPING FEES
The fourth and final article was the subject of Van Deusen's presentation Monday evening. The "Moretown earned revenue checks article" asks the voters to allow the town to appropriate half of the 2010 landfill tipping fees (approximately $200,000) in order to issue checks to all resident households who qualify for Vermont's incoming sensitivity provision.
"Such checks would be equal for each qualifying household and will be determined by dividing allocated landfill funds by the number of qualified applicants, and will not exceed an amount of $500 each." If approved, checks will be issued to qualified households in October of 2010, according to Van Deusen's report.
QUESTIONED THE FEASIBILITY
Residents questioned the feasibility of such a program, specifically the administrative obstacles and why the funds wouldn't be returned to the town's Capital Savings Fund instead of distributed to individuals or families.
"My initial findings are that 492 (out of approximately 600) Moretown households applied for income sensitivity in 2009. Therefore, if we voted to issue equal revenue checks to each of these households, each family would receive $416. Furthermore, we could have these checks sent out in October, a couple of weeks before town taxes are due, so that families could use this money to offset the amount they owe the town. If we did this, we could greatly lower taxes for working people, for a change, at the expense of having wealthier people pay their normal full share," Van Deusen reported.
The articles have yet to be approved by the select board. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 7, and the following Monday, December 14. Select board members hope to have the draft budget and articles completed and available to the public by the December 28 meeting.
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