Gemma SeymourFeb 5

Here is a spreadsheet of the Top 11 municipalities in #Vermont by population (2020 Decennial Census Data), showing the number of registered voters in 2025, how many voted, what type of #elections and #TownMeeting they hold, what type of government they have, and their votes on the FY26 budget (#VT SecState reported data) Of them, the City of #Burlington and the Town of #Brattleboro are the only two that do not hold a townwide ballot to approve the municipal budget.

#VTpol #VTpoli

Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5
#Brattleboro ranks 6th, right in the middle of the 11 towns and cities with greater than 10000 residents. However, Brattleboro is the only municipality in Vermont which utilizes a representative form of #TownMeeting. Of the other 10, only 4 municipalities have any type of floor vote by an open Town Meeting, and none of them vote on any issues of great consequence by a floor vote. Of those 4, only Williston even bothered to report the number of voters present at the floor vote.
Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5

Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting voted down the original budget by a vote of 57-76, with 142 members present, and subsequently approved the amended budget by a vote of 110-4, with 131 members present.

The Burlington City Council passed their FY26 budget unanimously, but it should be noted that the FY26 budget was "more than 1%" lower than the $107.8 million FY25 budget, which was also approved unanimously, but which represented a 10.7% increase in the property tax rate.

Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5
The movement to rescind Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro is not driven by any real sense of fairness, despite their attempts at lofty rhetoric. They are motivated solely by their irrational rage over the fact that RTM voted to sustain Human Services funding in FY2026 at a level of 2% of the General Fund Budget.
Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5

There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that a townwide ballot will result in better governance, and many reasons to believe that it will actually result in much worse government, with power greatly concentrated in any three-person majority of the Selectboard.

One of the candidates for Selectboard this year is Randy Blodgett, one of the main instigators of the movement to rescind RTM in favor of a townwide ballot on all matters.

Show threadGemma Seymour

I have yet to see a single example of a townwide ballot in Vermont voting down a proposed budget.

There is no rational or historical reason to believe that a townwide ballot will serve as a meaningful check or balance to the power of the Selectboard.

The townwide ballot, or "Australian ballot", as it is often called, will be nothing more than a rubber stamp vote.

Feb 5 at 6:32amWeb
Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5

There will be little to no opportunity for deliberation by the public that might meaningfully affect the structure of the budget, if RTM is rescinded in favor of Australian ballot.

As you can see from the results, in no way were any of these votes even remotely close.

Brattleboro was the only municipality of the 11 largest in Vermont to vote down a budget, which subsequently passed with near-unanimous approval, after amendment. That's what good government looks like.

Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5

There were three major issues that drove the controversy of the FY26 budget in Brattleboro:

1. A proposed $750,000 increase in the police department budget.

2. The 2% of the budget proposed to be allocated to Human Services funding, which advocates of funding the police wanted slashed to almost nothing.

3. A massive increase in the cost of curbside solid waste removal, as a result of Casella being the sole bidder on the RFP. Casella has us over a barrel, literally.

Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5

These issues are all still controversial in Brattleboro for FY27:

1. The police department budget is cut by $145K, due to the retirement of Chief Norma Hardy, and declining to hire a replacement Captain.

2. The Human Services budget was cut by the Selectboard from ~$500K to $1. Depending on what happens with the RTM recision article vote, this might stand.

3. We managed to negotiate a deal with Casella, at the cost of greatly diminished services, but it will result in substantial savings.

Show threadGemma SeymourFeb 5
It has to be said that even the proposed FY27 budget, as it stands, is deeply underfunding the town, even as it represents a substantial increase in the property tax rate, which is already $3.4826 per $100.00 of assessed value for homestead properties.