SITE

By Trudy Hamilton

Many of you have read the article in October’s Volunteer Fare about LD 2202 (please refer to the October article if you’d like background about LD 2202). The response has been requests for how to get the ball rolling in your own communities, a kind of “How-To” manual.

While I’m not aware of any towns in Maine that have adopted an ordinance that puts LD 2202 in practice, quite a few are starting to have conversations around it. There are many towns in other states that have been successful, so I’ll share what I found out during my research.

Please remember that if you work for an agency that depends upon municipal funding, you should check with your Executive Director before proceeding with efforts to get ordinances passed.

Step 1: Educate, educate, educate!
• Do you have volunteers over the age of 60 that could benefit from this ordinance? Share what you know with them, and work on building a strong base of support.
• Educate people in your agency. Encourage their advocacy in their own communities.
• Educate your community. Talk to your selectmen, your town manager, your budget committee, your social services committee.

When you are working on educating people about LD 2202, it might be helpful to put together a fact sheet that you can hand out, with the following information:
• Statistical data and explain your rationale for the article.
• How many seniors are paying Real Estate Taxes in your community?
• Approximately how many seniors would be eligible for your program?
• How will your Town’s senior property tax relief compare to neighboring towns?

Step 2: Be prepared!
There will be a variety of people with many questions. Here are a few (and answers if I have them):
• How many people will benefit?
• What will be the cost?
• Who will pay for the program? There is no state funding, but towns often set money in their budgets to offset tax abatements, or fund social assistance programs. The beauty of a town budget is that residents can choose what they want to pay for.
• Why should it be limited to only those over 60? Some will feel it is discriminatory, based on age. The amendment was designed, however, to encourage and assist older adults in maintaining their independence at home as long as possible. You can also answer this question with another question…why should those older adults be taxed for services they don’t use, such as school funding?

There will be different questions from each town, and probably different questions at each town meeting, as well.

Step 3: Get the support that you need on your side.
• Select boards in each town. Arrange to work with residents of the town to gain the support of town leaders.
• Opponents of selectpersons. Make sure this is “bipartisan”, rather than politics. Focus on the issue, not personalities.
• Media. Submit an article to your local paper, and have materials for reporters to refer to in their stories, as well. This is especially important if reporters are covering meetings.
• Budget Committee…often, the Select boards follow all the recommendations of the Budget Committee.
• What people will speak up to defend it?
• Who will oppose the article and why?

Step 4: Craft the article or ordinance.
How are articles usually written? Obtain the help of an experienced town leader to help you write your article. Will you leave it open to broad interpretation at a later date, or will you include all the details, such as what type of volunteer service counts, who may benefit from the program, what will the benefit be, how will the program be administered, how often may people benefit from the program? Be prepared to help guide the answers to these details so a win-win situation is created for both volunteers and municipalities.

Step 5: Get the article on the warrant for the town meeting. Dates are very important here, as towns vary widely for holding town meetings. What are the closing dates for an article to make the warrant? Do you need the support in advance of townspeople, as indicated by signatures on a petition?

Step 6: Obtain support for your article. This is different from obtaining support for the idea. Now, you have a concrete article you are asking folks to be supportive of. This
support for the is critical. Without strong support your article may not pass. This can be the most difficult step because it not only involves politics, but also involves money. You can, however, delegate much of this work.
• Ask volunteers to call supporters and give them the dates and times for all public hearings.
• Have seniors who can not attend the meetings write letters of support for the article and bring the letters to town meeting.
• Get the local press actively involved with the article. Create a human interest story. People like to hear stories about why the article is so important and who it will assist.
• Write an explanation of the article in your monthly newsletter.
• Speak about the article at your local Senior group meetings.
• Get as much positive press as possible.
• Get your article on your local cable station.
• Offer transportation to meetings. (Car pools, vans etc.)

Step 7: Attend Town meetings and select board meetings where the article is being discussed. Remember, however, that if you are speaking outside your own town of residence, you will have to ask permission to speak.

Hopefully, these steps will help you initiate passage of LD 2202 ordinances in towns throughout Maine. While helping older adults stay in their homes, this is also an unusual opportunity to place volunteerism in the spotlight, recognizing the important work volunteers do in their communities.

Trudy Hamilton is Volunteer Manager at Seniors Plus and is a featured blogger.