Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1920-02-18

slIperyiSor Our COMMISSION
err of education might be named by
the state board of education as he
now is. he in turn would appoint dis
trict superintendent. In both cases,
these men might be given the inlatIVe.
They would come to the towns each
wear with a budget of expected ex-
penses and suggested tax rate Tor
the two items of roads and schools,
which rate is to be a uniform county
rate. Each town votes at its March
meeting to accept or reject the rate,
and when two-thirds of the towns re-
fuse the recommendations of the cen
trail powers, some method of re-
submission of the question should be
had, or the rate is automatically es-
tablished by the twons. A general
town tax for such other minor ex-
penses as towns have might be left
entirely with each town, such tax to
be administered by the selectmen.
Following March meeting let the
central road authority call his coun-
cillors, elected from each town as
road commissioners, together and go
over his plan in detail. Only upon
approval of his councillors can his
word be carried out. And some pow
er for his removal by the town road
men might be provided. A similar
method would be pursued by the
school authorities.
Thus would we have an organiza-
ton accountable to both state and
local authority Little or none of
our democracy would be lost, our
plans would be more carefully made
and executed, and the problems of the
weaker towns would be largely solved.
| Such plan, imperfect as it is and
only briefly outlined, may give rise
to something more tangible along this
line of thought.
Such plan involve several funda-
Vermont. One of the first is greater
equalization of taxable property val
Hues. This paper ventures the state
ment that farms in Orleans county
which have recently sold for as high
as $4,000 are set in the lit in some
towns as low as $500; while in an
other town farm of equal value i
set in the list at $4,000, or higher
Such inequalities ought to be don,
away with.
A more centralized authority il
many ways would work to the advan
tage of all concerned, but such auth
GRITTY cannot be established so long a
each town, and especially the sma
: town feels that its sacred right as
: political unit is being lost.
S To disturb town lines only mean
: another disturbance in some futu1
S time. Some town now finding il
Y population below 500 may in the fl
( ture find its population increased to
e considerable extent, while othe
n towns now having a population som,
f what over the dead line may los
: ground. This paper sees no equalii
or final justice in a revamping of OF
x town lines. The old New Englar
a town is too sacred thing in histol
d to be abolished. What a histol
II many town now foundering in de
# and decay has had Must that
IS obliterated? No! The territory al
is the people will remain where tn,
m are regardless of town lines, al
a. their problem is the same profile
ID regardless of town lines, and the
r problem is the same when the line
h changed so, why not leave the TOW
Y line, leave the town name, leave t
town meeting, lave the town officer
lg leave the town pride, leave the toy
" unit of incentive, but broaden o
q administration of affairs, which a
a never purely local, anyway, into
n unit where the whole community
ty concerned. Such a plan would broa
iy en- our thought and vision but reta
e our. local interest and pride.