Duxbury, VT Non-Town Road Maintenance Assistance

PETITION TO THE TOWN OF DUXBURY, VERMONT

TO STOP THE UNSAFE AND UNFAIR TREATMENT OF THOSE LIVING ON AND NEAR NON-TOWN ROADS

We, the undersigned resident-voters of the Town of Duxbury, Vermont, do hereby petition the Town to actively participate and assist in the ongoing maintenance and repair of all non-town roads (aka "private roads") within its boundaries.

There are three primary reasons to support this petition:

1. Public Safety Public safety is the primary responsibility of any government body. Frequently, circumstances render non-town roads impassable; incapable of supporting emergency fire, law enforcement, or EMT personnel and vehicles. The result is an increased risk of loss of life and property on and near such non-town roads. The failure to ensure the viability of our non-town roads also poses a direct risk to adjacent town roads, properties and residents. Thus, it would be a grievous and short-sighted error in judgment for the Town to continue to dismiss the condition of non-town roads as a matter solely affecting the families living on them.

2. Fairness The issue of fairness centers on three principle points:
a. Homeowners on non-town roads pay local property taxes just as all other homeowners do. Their taxes help pay for the personnel, equipment (such as the Town's new grader) and material that is used to maintain town roads. However, they do not enjoy the benefit of the road maintenance services for which they help to pay.
b. Similarly, residents of non-town roads pay their federal income taxes just as all other Town residents do. However, when FEMA funds were made available in the wake of the 2008 flash floods, such funds were not applied to the repair of non-town roads that were equally affected by that act of nature.
c. Now, with the Federal economic stimulus plan pouring millions of dollars into the state specifically for road and infrastructure projects, once again, our federal-tax-payer neighbors that live on non-town roads stand to be left out in the cold.

3. Regulatory Failure Since the Town has failed to enact and/or enforce regulations governing the proper construction of such non-town roads, the Town shares direct responsibility for the road failures that result from improper road construction.

In light of the foregoing, for reasons of Public Safety, Fairness, and Regulatory Failure, we affirm our request that the Town Of Duxbury assist in the the ongoing repair and maintenance of all non-town roads within its borders. Such assistance shall take the form of a combination of cash reimbursements for approved projects and direct maintenance services performed by Town personnel, provided in proportion to the need and traffic supported by such non-town roads.