Re-printed courtesy of Vermont Public | By Vermont Public Staff
It’s almost time for Vermont’s Town Meeting Day, and Vermont Public wants to help you feel prepared and confident. Whether you’re a new Vermonter or a seasoned local voter, Town Meeting can feel overwhelming – school and town reports are thick, and there are endless variations on how things are done from town to town. We’ve put together this guide to help! Here’s everything you always wanted to know about Town Meeting Day but were too afraid to ask.
What is Town Meeting Day?
Town Meeting Day is an election day for local entities – that's your town government, your local school district, and sometimes other institutions like water districts.
“Think of town meeting as the earliest form of government in the state of Vermont,” Vermont Public’s senior political correspondent Bob Kinzel said on an episode of Brave Little State. “It's been held for the last 250 years on the first Tuesday in March. And many people view it as democracy in its purest form.”
What happens?
- Elections of select board or city council members, school board members, mayors and other local officials.
- Approval or rejection of town budgets.
- Approval or rejection of school district budgets.
- Ballot items: You may see bond votes for infrastructure projects, advisory questions that tell the select board how the public thinks about a certain issue, and more.
- Some towns organize a potluck before or after voting; others have bake sales or other fuel for democracy.
- Presidential party primaries (in presidential election years).
When is Town Meeting?
This will vary from town to town. Traditionally, Town Meeting Day is the first Tuesday in March.
What is my town voting on?
Track down your town's warning. You can often find that on your official town website. If you’re stumped, look for the annual report. You may have received one in the mail, but many towns also post them online. The town meeting warning – it's usually somewhere toward the beginning of the town report – will show all the offices that will be elected plus any questions that will be put to voters.
You’ll also want to find the report and warning for your school district. Some towns make it easy and post everything on the town website; in other towns, you may need to visit your school district’s website to track down the documents.
How do I vote?
There are two main ways that voting happens: in-person (sometimes called floor votes), and by paper ballot (often referred to as an Australian ballot).
In-person votes require everyone to be in a room together and weigh in on questions through saying “aye” and “nay,” or by raising hands if the voice vote is too close. This is a cherished tradition in many towns because it allows meaningful discussion between neighbors, the opportunity to stand up and ask questions, and even the chance to tweak the wording of a proposal in real time.
Australian ballots are just like voting for president or governor. You’ll have a window of time to submit your ballot – you can vote early, or you can go to the polls before 7 p.m. on voting day.
The mix of in-person and ballot voting depends on the individual town or city. In some larger towns and cities, everything is done by paper ballots. Some towns do everything on the floor. Some towns do both – some items for the ballot, some items for the live meeting. Your town’s official Town Meeting Day warning will tell you how everything will happen.
Am I eligible to vote on Town Meeting Day?
In the vast majority of towns, voter eligibility is the same for other elections – you must be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a legal resident of the town.
Brattleboro allows 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections only.
People who are 17 years old, but who will turn 18 years old by the date of the November general election, are allowed to vote in Vermont's primary elections.
Key terms to know
Moderator: The person who makes sure an in-person meeting runs smoothly and fairly. Moderators are elected by voters and typically serve a one-year term. Electing a moderator is often the first order of business at any town meeting – and then the new moderator helps to manage all subsequent votes on other matters using rules known as Robert’s Rules of Order.
Australian ballot: A standardized paper ballot filled out in private, much like the ballots used for statewide and federal elections.
Fiscal year: The year that begins July 1 and ends on June 30. Most Vermont towns use a fiscal year for their budgets (rather than a traditional calendar year), and all school districts use a fiscal year.
People refer to the fiscal year by the year it will end – for example, the fiscal year 2027 budget is the one that ends on June 30, 2027.
Municipal property tax rate: The property tax rate used to fund town operations. It’s a separate tax rate from the tax that funds education – add them both together to find your total tax rate.
Homestead education property tax rate: The property tax rate that applies to Vermonters’ primary homes. Two key variables impact your town's rate: how much needs to be raised statewide to fund all schools, and how much your local school district is spending per pupil. The formula that determines each district's per-pupil spending tries to account for the fact that some kids – like English language learners, low-income students, and children in rural settings – should cost more to teach.
Non-homestead education property tax rate: The property tax rate that applies to second homes in Vermont, camps, business property, industrial property and more.
Property tax credit: This is how Vermont adjusts people’s property taxes to reflect their income. You might also hear people call this “income sensitivity.” About 70% of Vermont households get a property tax credit. It shows up on your tax bill on the line “state payments.”
Grand list: In the context of a town budget, the grand list is the sum of all taxable property within the town boundaries. Grand list growth means more property value and more tax revenue.
Common level of appraisal: A number, expressed as a percentage, that estimates the accuracy of the listed property values in a Vermont town. A lower number means the properties in that town are undervalued compared to the market.
The common level of appraisal is used in the Vermont education funding formula to attempt to make sure that taxpayers pay a fair amount in relation to their neighbors in other towns.
Town health officer: The person in every Vermont town, nominated by the select board and appointed by the state health commissioner, who’s responsible for responsible for protecting public health in their community.
