Town Report 2005

Hello,

I have heard through the grapevine that some folks appreciated the extra effort that went into improving the Town Report. Thank you !

The Town Report needs to continue to be the basis for the electorate's decision. I encourage residents to contact the Selectboard with specific comments in regards to which pages you feel should continue to be printed in future Town Reports and which pages you feel are not warranted.

I believe the Selectboard wants to hear from the constituents. If attending Monday nights meetings is not feasible, consider sending email. The Selectboard Assistant has an email address and has always presented my notes to the Board.

Below is an article which was going to be printed in the March issue of the Fairfax News. Due to techinical issues it was not printed.

Town Report – From The Town Audit Committee

Understandably there has been some concern over the cost of printing a thicker town report. We want you to know we do not take spending your taxes lightly.

The cost of printing this year’s 1,600 town reports was $3,212.00 The printing costs were the about the same as last year even though the report is thicker. We switched to a new commercial printing firm, Galaxy Printing.

Postage however did go up significantly. A total of $1,072 was spent to mail 1,530 reports. Rates did go up. We also mailed an additional 200 reports this year because statue says ALL residents should receive a town report. The mailing list is not based on registered voters or those who own property. Basically it implies that residents who rent should also receive a report. This was not done in years past.

Postage was also affected by the inclusion of the Recreation Dept. Handbook. This insert was a one time occurrence. To reduce postage for next year, we will try to use a lighter weight paper.

The Audit Committee felt it important to include extra information this year. Last year we heard complaints about folks not being able to hear at Town Meeting or just not being able to attend Town Meeting. Many folks travel due to the school recess and a number of residents spend the winter down south. To improve the Town Report, we obtained 18 town reports from towns throughout Vermont that are the roughly the same size as Fairfax. Most of the new additions to the Fairfax report were obtained by reviewing the 18 reports. In comparison, the 2005 Fairfax Town Report is the same size as other towns whose population is roughly the same.

The new additions to the report are as follows:
Senator and District Representative Reports,
Sheriff and Emergency Manager Reports,
DRB Report,
School Board of Directors Report,
Impact Fee Schedule,
Town Organizational Chart,
Town and School Salary Charts,
Informational flyers: Hazardous Waste, Recycling, Preschool Development.
According to statute the impact fee schedule needs to be provided annually.

The Town Audit Committee also prepared several pie charts and line graphs to give residents some HISTORICAL Financial Data. [/color] Using these charts, readers can quickly assess trends in budget categories. All of this was a result of adhering to the Handbook for Locally Elected Auditors. The Handbook states Town Auditors should take the writing of the Town Report seriously as if forms the basis of the electorate’s decision.

We encourage residents to contact us with comments, concerns, suggestion. We are here to serve you ! Our email address is: fairfaxauditors@yahoo.com. Regular mail can be sent to the Town Office, PO Box 27.

For ongoing discussion regarding Article 8 – Eliminating Local Audit Office, please visit www.vtgrandpa.com/forums, click on Current News.