As I wrote here, town meeting is American democracy writ small. Our town meeting was this past Tuesday evening, but it wasn't the end all and be all in regards to how our town is going to spend the taxpayer's money. (The biggest controversy was probably the addition of $750 to the budget for the community band.) The second part took place tonight when we had our school district meeting, which echoes the town meeting in that the voters in our town debated how much money will be spent on our schools over the coming fiscal year.
While there weren't nearly as many warrant articles to debate, they were more important because the school portion of our town's budget is two-thirds of all the monies that will be spent. And, unlike the town meeting, there was a lot of lively debate over two of the three warrant articles presented. In fact, the school district meeting lasted longer than the town meeting even though the town meeting had 20 warrant articles to address.
In the end, the final decision will be made by the voters on March 8th when all the warrant articles will be on the ballot and the voters will have their final say on the direction our town will take during the coming fiscal year.
While there weren't nearly as many warrant articles to debate, they were more important because the school portion of our town's budget is two-thirds of all the monies that will be spent. And, unlike the town meeting, there was a lot of lively debate over two of the three warrant articles presented. In fact, the school district meeting lasted longer than the town meeting even though the town meeting had 20 warrant articles to address.
In the end, the final decision will be made by the voters on March 8th when all the warrant articles will be on the ballot and the voters will have their final say on the direction our town will take during the coming fiscal year.
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