Every municipal board, council, commission, and committee (see examples listed below) is required to comply with Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. Learn – or review – the basic requirements of the law, including:
The requirements of the temporary provisions enacted in 2024 allowing remote and hybrid meetings will also be discussed.
In March 2024, VLCT surveyed members to measure and understand what would be the potential effects on municipal entities if S.55 were enacted in its then-current form. On April 5, Ted Brady presented some of the results in testimony, indicating that the proposed requirements, if enacted, would create significant burdensome logistical and financial consequences for many Vermont local governments. This article notes additional results from the same survey, which was answered by 267 people representing 173 different municipal entities including not only cities, towns, and villages, but also libraries, water districts, and fire districts.
We posed the question “How does your legislative body hold its regular meetings?”. Of the 172 municipal entities that answered, 56% reported hybrid, 40% reported in-person only, and 4% reported remote only.
We went on to ask whether any of the municipality’s other boards or committees hold hybrid meetings. These “select all that apply” answers came from 97 municipalities: 70% planning commission, 43% development review board or zoning board of adjustment, 28% board of civil authority, 19% board of abatement, 5% listers, 3% auditors, and 33% “Other”. All are depicted in the graph below.
Two Yes/No questions focused on the ability of municipal entities to hold more than one hybrid meeting at a time. Both received 169 responses. To “Do you have multiple meeting rooms where hybrid or remote meetings can be held?”, 83% said No. To “Do you have the equipment and software capability to hold multiple remote meetings simultaneously?”, 86% said No.
Many municipalities adopted limited hybrid capabilities while the pandemic state of emergency was in effect, but they currently lack the financial or staff resources to hold all public body meetings remotely while also administering them properly and effectively.
To the question "If you don't currently hold remote only or hybrid meetings, or have limited capabilities, what are the barriers for your organization? Select all that apply”, the responses from 130 municipal entities were:
Within the Other category, the top response came from ten respondents: the municipal facility doesn’t have reliable or fast enough internet service to ensure seamless public participation in hybrid meetings. This comes as no surprise: statistical data from the Vermont Department of Public Service indicates that eighteen percent of Vermont is still without reliable and fast broadband because their download/upload speed is 25/3 Megabytes per second or less.
Additional written-in answers expressed concerns about residents not being able to access meetings remotely due to limited technical knowledge, lack of affordable internet, or lack of reliable internet access. The remaining written-in barriers included limited space (7%); limited available equipment (6%); and low participation, ensuring legal requirements are met for hearings, attendee training needs, reduced meeting effectiveness, and in-person preference (0.3% each).
The survey asked what equipment (owned or borrowed) municipalities are currently using to conduct hybrid meetings. The "select all that apply” answers given by the 108 respondents were:
Of the 121 responses to “Do you pay for software services to host hybrid or remote meetings?”, 74% were Yes and 26% were No.
What meeting software do municipalities use? Of the 109 responses to this “select all” question, Zoom got 97%, Microsoft Teams got 13%, teleconference got 3%, and GoToMeeting and Google Webinar each got 1%.
Finally, to the question “Do you pay extra for streaming services to publish your recorded meetings?”, 87% of the 113 respondents answered No and 13% answered Yes.
The data collected from this survey has been added to the growing body of data in our Municipal Data Project.
This information from the Property Valuation and Review Division of the Vermont Department of Taxes follows up on VLCT's March 11 description of Act 82. The period to apply for tax abatement reimbursement opened today and closes on Friday, April 26, 2024.
Act 82 of 2024 allows the Vermont Department of Taxes to approve reimbursements to municipalities for qualifying state education property tax payments related to abated state education property taxes on property that was damaged by severe storms and flooding on July 7-21, 2023, and August 3-5, 2023. The abatements must be made no later than April 15, 2024.
A municipality may also request reimbursement of interest expenses on funds borrowed to make state education property tax payments due to disruption of tax collections resulting from flooding between July 1, 2023, and October 15, 2023. The reimbursement is limited to an amount equal to the municipality's reasonable interest expenses but not more than an 8% interest rate.
These reimbursements will be processed from the Agency of Education as a reduction in Education Property Tax liability.
For a complete explanation of the program and eligibility requirements, and to submit an online application, please visit:
Flood-Related Damage and Property Tax Abatement | Department of Taxes (vermont.gov).
Questions? Call 802-828-5860 or email tax.pvr@vermont.gov.
Event date: 3/23/2024
This training will help newly elected selectboard members succeed in your position by explaining foundational information on three key topics:
For returning selectboard members this training can serve as a refresher.
