BRATTLEBORO — Once again, our town has gone through its spring ritual of decrying the proposed “excessive” (unconscionable?) tax rate. There are far more constructive questions that need to be asked before initiating this handwringing drama.
The primary question: Are our taxes productive?
To be productive, taxes need to create a desired future while maintaining the present. There is plenty of evidence suggesting that our taxes fail on both counts.
Our deteriorating infrastructure (roads, buildings, housing) certainly suggests that we are not maintaining the present, nor is there any evidence to suggest that we are creating a desired future as we simply limp from year to year.
History suggests that it is our habit to respond to the immediate need of the day because something is on the verge of failure. A productive tax means more than meeting the physical requirements of infrastructure. Productive taxes provide services that meet the needs of the various segments of the citizenry.
Programmatic services such as the library; the Gibson-Aiken Center, which serves the youth and the elderly; and various programs to assist those who have fallen on hard times - are all part of productive taxes.
The nature of such activity is intimately tied to the makeup of the population, as well as the shifting demographics of Brattleboro. To resign oneself to the drift of changing demographics, however, is counterproductive in the long run.
The aging population needs to be balanced by new, younger blood - those portions of the demographic that bring new resources to the growth of the community.
How does this happen? The critical agency for accomplishing the tasks that address the full makeup of the community is town government. The mechanism for accomplishing that future is the annual budget.
The flurry of activity of this year's budget process clearly demonstrates how it doesn't happen. The uproar over the police and fire project perfectly illustrates the way Brattleboro lurches from year to year on one crutch: a minimal budget addressing the most urgent need of the moment - in other words, a minimal maintenance budget.
* * *
Why does Brattleboro limp? Because there is no vision at the center of the budget directing the town toward a desired future.
Brattleboro got into these debacles by building budgets that simply do day-to-day maintenance until, for example, the housing of our safety functions approached near-crisis conditions.
The town's police and fire services account for slightly more than 25 percent of the town budget. Given this fact, the need for their housing has been brewing for a considerable length of time. Police facilities reside within the catacombs of a decrepit 1884 building that was once the high school, with the fire department facilities not far behind.
That said, I don't intend to debate the particular solution that has precipitated the current contretemps. I am using the fire and police housing problem merely as an example to address the larger question: how to plan for a desired future, and how to accomplish it, while also meeting the needs of today.
Note well: town government is the primary agency with the legal authority to work in the interests of all of a town's citizenry to fulfill these goals and needs, which provide the environment for individuals and families to flourish. It does not happen otherwise.
* * *
How does the town government achieve these goals? Three elements are necessary: a town vision/plan, a budget that clearly articulates how to accomplish that vision, and the revenue required to fund it.
• Visioning a future. Building a Better Brattleboro has a plan. The Windham Arts Council has a plan. Other organizations have plans. Whose vision do they reflect?
Agency plans serve the interests of the agency and its constituency. That is not to dismiss such plans, but they are pieces feeding a larger vision that should be captured in a town plan that gets vetted by the citizenry and approved by the Representative Town Meeting. These pieces need to become a part of the town's long-term vision.
Progressive goals - steps to the vision - should be captured in the yearly town budget in a manner that enables ordinary citizens to see that their taxes are productively creating that vision/future from year to year. The town manager's office is the place where these plans come together and get turned into operational budgets that over time realize the desired future.
This understanding is critical for defining the criteria that determine what qualities and qualifications a town manager should possess. Town managers need to be more than simply administrators. Town managers need to be promoters of a town vision if a town is to realize its desired future.
Town visions are not cast by one individual or in stone. There needs to be a mechanism in place that allows for adjustment to a vision. The mechanism needs to be subject to yearly review and presentation by the town manager to the Selectboard and the Representative Town Meeting, as well as open to revision every other year by the citizenry based on changing conditions.
These reviews need to be intimately connected to the construction, the review, and the approval of the annual budget.
* * *
How is an effective budget constructed? An effective budget needs to show how revenue is being targeted to accomplish the goals planned for the upcoming fiscal year. It is not sufficient to show, for example, that in a proposed budget approximately 91 percent of the budget is allocated to salary, the current year's estimate for the police department.
The allocation should show, for example, how that salary is distributed to patrol, dispatch, education, court time, etc.
How much of that budget is for vehicle maintenance?How does police vehicle maintenance relate to public-works vehicle maintenance? How do safety patrol needs break out in relationship to the amount of activity during the day, by day of the week, by change of season?
These are legitimate questions that a properly developed budget addresses and in this way clearly informs the public how their taxes are being used.
I am using this example only to illustrate the way to build a budget with transparency in mind. Transparency is the foundation for accountability at the end of a fiscal year on the part of every department.
Annual town budgets should be programmatically developed in such a way that each department head clearly outlines the department's goals and the programs to be undertaken and accomplished to meet these ends.
For each proposed program, the department head should clearly show the amount of labor that will be needed, the amount of supplies and materials that will be needed, the cost of contracted services, capital expenditures, and the amount of work to be accomplished.
This discipline is known as a planning, programming, and budgeting system (PPBS). Money expended for a given project should match the amount and nature of progress that has been made toward completing it. If that progress is shown transparently, every program in the budget is measurable, and the budget is thus accountable to the public.
Clearly, the unforeseen does happen and must be met. If money for a given program is siphoned off to be used elsewhere during the year, then approval for that switch has to be obtained and documented with a very visible trail. This is the key to accountability.
If actual expenditures do not match the accomplishment that was projected, then the department head and the town manager need to be held accountable. Transparency means that the shortfall is visible to all. Such transparency reveals equally to all who are interested how near-term needs are being balanced with the accomplishment of longer-term goals. This open process is the most effective vehicle for determining, monitoring, and ensuring that Brattleboro is growing into its future in a productive manner that sustains its vibrancy and growth.
Where does the revenue come from? Revenue comes from a number of sources: taxes, grants, foundations, federal and state reimbursements, philanthropy, and voluntarism. All of these areas need to be pursued, often in conjunction with other community partners. The generation of revenue requires a separate discussion. Perhaps others who are more versed in revenue generation will address this topic.
* * *
Finally, it is important to recognize that the town budget is dwarfed by the school budget. The same kind of transparency in budget building and accountability on the town side should be in place for the education part of the annual tax rate.
State law gives the town little discretion to alter the school budget. Thus, the town budget becomes the main target of Brattleboro's hand wringing, as it bears the disproportionate burden of yearly cutting.
The town needs to address this imbalance, as it is a major factor that is undercutting movement into its desired future.