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Policy Research Shop Testimony: May 27, 2015

  • PRS Students Mariel Wallace, Tyler Stoff, and David Garcia prepare for a presentation to the Strafford, VT Selectboard. 

  • PRS Students Mariel Wallace, Tyler Stoff, and David Garcia pose with Strafford Sleectobard members Toni Pippy, John Freitag, Brian Johnson, and Brent Cadwell. 

PRS Students Testify on Vermont Town Administrative Cost findings to the Town of Strafford’s SelectBoard

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015, Policy Research Shop students Tyler Stoff ’15, Mariel Wallace ’16, and David Garcia ’16 traveled to the historic Morrill Homestead in Strafford, Vermont to meet with members of the Strafford Selectboard. The PRS students provided the members of the Selectboard, chaired by John Freitag, with an analysis of the salaries of town employees for 49 Vermont towns with populations from 892 to 1,264. The students compared salaries for clerks, assistant clerks, treasurers, and road maintenance crews by town populations, office hours per week, and annual property tax revenues.

In assessing the town staff of Strafford with the other 48 towns of similar size, the students found Strafford salaries to be slightly above the sample average for clerks and town road crews, and significantly above the sample average for the assistant clerk position. The students presented their findings to Selectboard chair John Freitag, vice chair Brent Cadwell, and board members Toni Pippy and Brian Johnson. They also provided the board members with copies of their report, “Administrative and Road Crew Salaries: A Comparative Assessment of Vermont’s Towns,” PRS Policy Brief 1415-06.