Recently, you received a booklet in the mail. The Annual Report of
Waitsfield Town Officers. What it doesn't say on the cover is that it
is also the proposed budget for the year 2010. It will become law after
the Town Meeting, not before, and you have the power to change what is
in it. Your vote against the budget is the only way you can change your
property taxes. Your vote is the only way you can voice your dissent
against how your money is spent. If you don't attend the meeting and
you don't vote, you cannot say anything about how much money you will
be asked to pay. I suppose you can bellyache about it after the fact,
but if you do nothing then you have given your consent as to how your
money is spent. You can continue to support the way your town is run or
you can voice your opposition.
Case in point and one that will not be openly discussed at this meeting
is Article 3, which gives the select board the right to accept land
from homeowners at a loss of tax revenue to our town. The board can
accept this land for the following purposes: municipal forest to
procure wood products, maintain wildlife habitat, protect water
species, and provide forest recreation and for conservation education
purposes.
Recently the select board accepted a parcel of land from a local
family. I specifically point out the polo field across from The Valley
medical center. Instead of the town collecting the taxes on it,
Waitsfield will now have to pay to maintain it because of a woman's
dream to keep it pristine. This land was given to the town with
restrictions prohibiting any permanent structures on it, nor can we put
any events on it which would keep tents or booths on it overnight and
thus make it profitable.
This land will now become a burden to the taxpayer instead of a tax
asset. Does this land meet any of Article 3's requirements? Year after
year we have entrusted our select board to make decisions for us
instead of putting this sort of acquisition before us in a vote. Well I
have a dream too -- the Waitsfield Farmers' Market which is on a septic
field should be moved to this site with an organic septic system for
people to use instead of having to beg our local shop owners to use
their facilities. I dream of a place to park so we can get to the
farmstands and purchase our goods without blocking our local shop
owners from people who want to shop with them. That's what I dream. But
that accounts for nothing as long as the select board has the power to
make decisions for us.
You have the power to change this. Vote no on Article 3. In the future
we should vote on land acquisitions in a special article. And that is
not all folks. There is more. There are special appropriations. What is
so special about it? Once these organizations get in the budget, they
are never challenged again for appropriateness. They are not voted for
individually at the town meeting, but they do get on that way, and year
after year we have allowed this to continue! Vote no on the Town Budget
and make each of these requests a vote at the Town Meeting through the
article process. It can be done if you want it to; just say no.
If you are not sure, if you do not understand, if you don't agree, I
invite you to call me (496-7036) with any questions regarding our
budget before March 2. There isn't much time, but we can make a change
worth fighting for -- a right to reduce our taxes and limit the way our
town spends our money.
Marie Leotta lives in Waitsfield.
