BRATTLEBORO — It is fair to say that Brattleboro has asked about as much as it can of its citizens from property taxes.
There is, however, another route to gaining more resources. It does not include taxation or fees. Rather, I am suggesting that the town take advantage of some key but underappreciated qualities it enjoys and raise money from contributions over and above the property tax.
I am suggesting that Brattleboro do what many, if not most, charitable organizations do: invite, or appeal for, charitable contributions from those who appreciate the community and its services.
In particular, I propose that the town issue a general appeal for specific-purpose gifts of cash or appreciated securities.
I propose that the Selectboard approve the following:
• Endorse the creation of a program of appeal to the community for charitable contributions;
• Encourage the cooperation of town departments in such an appeal;
• Appoint an unpaid, part-time development consultant for twelve months to articulate such a program and assist in its implementation.
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Brattleboro already has a long history of benefiting from sizable charitable gifts, a great many of which are readily apparent.
Examples include donations made directly to the municipality and for establishing or supporting major local institutions. Municipally, the most obvious examples are the Brooks Memorial Library endowment funds and the high school's several hundred thousand dollars' worth of scholarship funds. Less obvious are the Hogle Wildlife Sanctuary near the Retreat Meadows and a number of private, nonprofit foundations that support a variety of local services.
Everyone is familiar with the major local institutions that were begun for the public's benefit with private seed money or which have been supported in part by continuing charitable gifts. Major examples include:
• Brattleboro Memorial Hospital
• Brooks Memorial Library
• Brattleboro Retreat
• Austine School for the Deaf
• United Way
Literally dozens of other, smaller, local human service organizations benefit from annual gifts and estate-planning legacies. The town has also long benefited, both directly and indirectly, from citizens who have been prominent in their generosity to the town, including:
• Fred Harris, for whom the ski jump is named;
• Nelson Withington, for whom our skating rink is named;
• Bob Gannett and his wife, Aldie, who were legendary for their family's quiet generosity in countless ways.
Quite a few private foundations also benefit our community. The best known example is the Thomas Thompson Trust, which was inspired by Mr. Thompson's wife, Elizabeth, who, having grown up understanding personal hardship, persuaded him to benefit Brattleboro and Rhinebeck, N.Y. That trust has been a major benefactor to many local nonprofit organizations literally for generations. The list of other, smaller foundations benefiting Brattleboro is very long.
There are, in addition, dozens - if not hundreds - of people who have given selflessly and tirelessly for the benefit of the town throughout its history. Brattleboro as a community has a very active population of volunteers who give, for the simple reason that they want better lives for their fellow citizens.
Our municipal government is in an excellent position to tap that longstanding and deep well of community spirit and generosity.
Rather than put yet more emphasis on its taxing authority as the town's needs expand, the town government can take advantage of its reputation for competence and integrity by activating its underutilized role as a fostering agent and generally soliciting donations of cash and appreciated securities, just as other nonprofits do. I suggest that the Selectboard and the Town School Board actually invite contributions over and above tax revenue.
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This idea challenges an unfortunately common notion that not a dime more than necessary be paid to local government - and only enough for the town to provide its most basic services.
However, given the long history of periodic but quite-material evidence to the contrary, I suspect that launching a long-term but quite simple program of appealing to the community - to its members' higher motivations - will yield lucrative, long-term results that could possibly even lead to a stabilization of the property-tax rate and, depending on the degree of the results, perhaps even reduce it.
Of course, not everyone will respond, or can afford to respond, for that matter.
So who, you might ask, is likely to write an additional check when so many people are taxed beyond their thresholds of financial pain?
The well-known investor Warren Buffett, who is among the richest people in the world, has spoken out about the basic unfairness of the nation's income-tax structure, which lets him pay at a lesser rate than his secretary. But we all know that people like him are among the most generous in terms of his charitable intent. He is a good friend of Bill Gates, who formed the largest foundation in world history with Microsoft stock.
Like Mr. Gates, Mr. Buffett plans to leave the vast majority of his wealth to charitable causes. It is just that kind of person, only on a smaller, local scale, whom this initiative is intended to reach - someone motivated, well-prepared, and well-advised to give but who has not yet been reminded of the local, municipal opportunity.
As with a charity, the Internal Revenue Code permits an income-tax deduction for contributions to a municipality if made for a public purpose. I strongly suspect there is a sufficiently large population of generous people in our midst – of modest as well as handsome means – that such an appeal could be successful over time.
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The necessary infrastructure of policy and accounting, and even marketing, is already in place to accommodate this kind of initiative:
• The town's budget is already finely sliced into many budget lines, all the way down to copier expenses. Donors could make contributions for specific purposes as well as general ones, and the town could handily incorporate them into existing budget lines.
Many potential needs can be filled from specific-purpose gifts. Some examples that readily come to mind are:
-The Withington Rink's refrigeration upgrade and repairs;
-Highway Department capital items, such as trucks, plows, and graders;
-Road and sidewalk repairs;
-Recreation department items, such as the equipment shed that has repeatedly been turned down in annual budget requests, and replacements to aging equipment;
-Longer library hours;
-Debt on the town's various capital projects, which include water-system improvements, school-related upgrades, heavy highway equipment, police and fire equipment and vehicles, and the cost of the forthcoming improvements to the police and fire facilities.
• The Selectboard already votes to approve receipts of contributions of grant money. It could easily accept contributions or express its concerns over the terms of a gift. It might well reject inappropriate contributions, such as tangible assets like automobiles and land that does not have clear title, or which come with unacceptable terms.
• The town communicates at least annually with its property-tax payers and can insert communications about gifting opportunities in any of its mailings. The school system communicates regularly with parents over the school year. The town's website is a powerful tool and frequently viewed resource. No less valuable is the town's familiarity with local news media.
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For these reasons, accomplishing this initiative would be quite straightforward. New work to ready such an initiative would basically consist of the following:
• Putting together a brochure that explains the opportunities and articulates the income-tax deductions available for gifts of cash and appreciated securities. The brochure - simple and to the point - can be included with tax and utility bills and with school communications.
• If they don't already have brokerage accounts set up to receive gifts of securities, the town and school system treasurers can easily establish them. Gifts of appreciated stocks and mutual funds are commonly made and provide their donors with substantial income-tax relief.
• An individual skilled in development could also be brought on board to organize a long-term appeal program. Given the broad but simple scope of such a program, I would suggest a part-timer on a limited time frame.
I realize that there are probably few precedents, if any, for this idea. However, I don't think that fact should stand in our town's way.
And I don't believe that local nonprofits with ongoing donor-development programs would be adversely affected.
Rather, I believe that the aquifer of potential contributions is deeper than has ever been tapped. Charitable giving nationwide exceeds exceeds $300 billion a year, and we are only in the early stage of the largest transfer of wealth from one generation to another in the history of civilization, estimated to total approximately $50 trillion.
We already have a strong culture of donation and voluntarism in Brattleboro. Let's capitalize on it for the good of our community.