Revised-please use this version.
Blog#230- 1/19/25
IS IT TIME TO CHANGE TRADITION?
By
Richard Davis
Many years ago there were poor farms run by local towns where the needy people in a community would find help and shelter. I have also heard stories from older Vermonters that when the legislature had House members elected from every town that some towns would elect the most indigent among them to be legislators so they could be safe and cared for during the winter.
Another tradition started, and I don’t know when, but it has persisted in many communities in Vermont. I suspect other places around the country may have some variation of this. In Brattleboro, Vermont we have a Human Services Committee that reviews applications from local non-profits and then allocates funding from the town budget. There has been wide support for the town using tax money to support non-profits.
As our town, and many others, face ever increasing taxes we have been forced to look at money we spend and try to decide if we can continue to support programs that we have funded in the past. The tradition of funding non-profits is changing in many towns and some have eliminated this item entirely from their budgets and others have modified it.
As a selectboard member I feel compelled to look at all options for lowering taxes. When I speak to local people I often hear that older people are considering moving because of the high property tax burden. I think we should continue to support human service agencies but I think we need to consider at what level to do that.
Brattleboro has continued to make a commitment to non-profits by allocating a percentage of the budget to human services for the committee to dole out. It amounts to $461,276 this year. If you look at the spreadsheet for the allocations it is clear that there is a wide range of amounts of money that non-profits receive, ranging from $700 to $75,000.
I don’t know how the committee determines how much each agency receives, but it seems to me that the process has resulted in some degree of inequality. Every agency has a different budget and different missions and different needs. I wonder if the time has come for our town to look at our human service allocations in relation to our tax increases and make some changes.
We are a compassionate town. We help our friends and neighbors and the local non-profits receive donations from people on a regular basis. We have a very giving community and people seem to give according to their ability.
I have run three non-profits over the years and have always been amazed at the generosity of people in our community. Currently, Daryl Pillsbury and I run the Windham County Heat Fund and we are in our 20th year of helping local people with fuel. Over that time we have raised about one million dollars, almost exclusively from local individuals, businesses and foundation.
We decided not to ask the town for support because we feel that people have been providing us with enough money to keep operating.
I suppose that if we ever ran into financial trouble we might consider asking the town for money, but then it would be a bad idea for the town to help us if we couldn’t help ourselves.
The question I am asking is what would happen to all of the non-profits in Brattleboro if they received less or no funding from the town. I suspect they would survive and thrive anyway and they would be able to adjust their budgets.
I am not saying we should stop supporting non-profits, but we have to take a look at how we do so. If a Brattleboro taxpayer pays $5000 in property taxes they are paying roughly $100 to support the human service allocation. Many of the taxpayers already donate to these organizations, so they are giving them an extra donation through their taxes and letting a committee decide who gets their money.
I saw a model that is used in Provincetown, MA, hardly comparable to Brattleboro, but still a small town. They have a Human Service Grants program. Perhaps we should adopt a new model that spends less tax money. We could ask for suggestions from the Humans Services Committee as well as the public and see what kind of response we get.
If the majority wants to continue funding at the current level that is OK but it leaves fewer options for cutting taxes and the other places we may look for cuts may cause even more pain.
"Many taxpayers already donate to these non-profit organizations so they are giving them an extra donation through their taxes""
This is a Fully Retarded perspective.
It’s not an “extra tax”, they know they’re paying Town tax but are incensed the money is steered to all but the poor. Framing their efforts to further improve their community as “unfair double taxation” tells me you can finagle financial figures but are impotent to provide the people peace much less prosperity.
Leah Rosin-Pritchard was brutally murdered in the service of our most sorrowful. Every few months her name recedes. This post would nickel-and-dime her memory when her statue should rise majestically over the war memorial.
Create the conditions where we have more of her ilk, well-protected by our fine strong young men.
You bray as Mr Finance. Your money will long be forgotten but your motives poison the well for awhile.