Want to make a difference in your backyard … Attend your Township Annual Meeting.
The annual town meeting is a tradition that takes place on the 3rd Tuesday of April every year.
It’s the one day where the average citizen can look the people spending their tax dollars in the eye and say, “Tell me why” at the same time utilizing a powerful tool to create change in your community. There is a unique accountability that happens when you look your local officials in the eye. You aren’t emailing a nameless bureaucrat; you are talking to the person who lives three miles down the road about things that matter to you. While you elect a Town Board to handle the day-to-day chores, the law reserves the “big picture” decisions for you, the elector.
The meeting authorized by Wisconsin Statute 60.10, gives the electors direct powers with one of the most important items being the tax levy. At a typical meeting the electors are provided with a summary of what the dollars have been used for. Questions like: What specific services or projects are driving that increase? Or why do we have a decrease when costs are going up? Do we need a new tractor or what road work is being planned? Does that roadwork exceed the statutory limit? Do we have a reserve fund? What is the salary of the board members? Any one of
these questions affect the total dollar amount the town is authorized to collect and ultimately, that money can’t be spent without your approval.
The meeting also gives the electors the ability to grant the town board authority to act on things like increased zoning capability using village powers for controlling what land use or development can happen. Do we have Ag enterprise zones? Do we have regulations in place to control large scale utility projects or CAFOs? Do we want to buy land for a park or new town hall or garage? While the electors give the Board permission, it does not force them to act. However, it’s again harder for them to say no or to take no action when they are in a room with their neighbors.
The meeting also authorizes the board to appropriate money in the budget for certain specific purposes like conservation of natural resources, managing invasive species or animal diseases and supporting innovation in other groups.
In a world where so many decisions feel out of our hands, this meeting is the rare exception where the law puts you in charge of your backyard. It ensures that your town remains run by the neighbors, for the neighbors. Make your plan to attend April 21.
Dixie Stechschutlte
Argyle