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1-30-2023 12:49am
OPINION: Pros/Cons of Changing Westwood's Treasurer, Tax Collector from Elected to Appointed Positions
Darlene Cancell
Editor
By John Aram, Contributor
In May, residents attending the Westwood Town Meeting will consider a warrant recommending positions of Town Treasurer and Tax Collector be appointed rather than continue to be elected. The warrant originated with the Charter Review Committee, received unanimous support of the Select Board, and is recommended by the Division of Local Services (DLS), an office of the State that advises municipalities.
Rather than addressing a perceived deficiency in the roles played by elected officials in Westwood, the warrant seeks to ensure high performance in these posts in the future. Supporters of this change in the DLS, the Charter Review Committee, and the Select Board endorse the view that advanced knowledge, skills, and experience for these roles can be more readily assured through appointment than election.
This view holds that the knowledge and experience base for effective tax collection and management of assets and financial liabilities have become highly specialized and increasingly professional. Select Board member, Marianne LeBlanc, expresses this view, “In Westwood, while we have been extremely fortunate to have been well-served for many years by elected officials in these positions, I believe that we should now take the pro-active measure of changing these positions from elected to appointed, as recommended by the DLS, in order to best protect the long-term financial interests of the Town.”
In addition, according to the DLS representatives, appointed positions allow greater collaboration and control within the Town’s Finance Department.
Supporters in the above groups might also argue that the Town will have access to a broader range of candidates by removing the electoral component. In an elective system, an ideal candidate for these posts possesses both strong technical expertise and effective political skills. Yet, high levels of these two qualities may not often be found in the same person, and in some cases strong political skills may mask weak expertise, resulting in underperformance. Highly qualified individuals may not be inclined to expend their time, money, and effort to enter local politics. Representatives of the DLS referred to elective positions for persons in these positions as leaving their selection “up to chance.” (1)
These observations may explain why, as reported by DLS, just under 15% of municipalities in Massachusetts continue to elect both treasurer and tax collector (2).
Yet, I believe that democracy also needs an advocate in this question. In my view, it is no small matter under any conditions to put distance between citizens and public officials. If direct democracy can work anywhere, it should work in local, relatively small and affluent communities, such as Westwood. Shouldn't town officials instead be seeking ways to strengthen democracy, especially in an age when we see attempts throughout the country to suppress electoral participation, gerrymander outcomes, and discredit valid elections?
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We currently elect judges, sheriffs and others to positions that require specialized knowledge, good judgement, and professionalism. Why should we treat the positions of Treasurer and Tax Collector differently from judges or sheriffs, other than they manage money? At what point should financial concerns trump democracy?
Perhaps some qualified candidates for these positions would shy away from needing to compete in an election and would disqualify themselves from consideration. On the other hand, perhaps an equal number of qualified candidates would be attracted to an elected position, not because it offers them freedom from close supervision, but because it gives them a greater sense of community identification and public service. Wouldn’t that be the ideal candidate?
While Westwood appears to have been blessed with competent elected officials in the two positions, over time, democracy admittedly has the potential to elect less qualified candidates. However, democratic failure is not the only risk present in considering the warrant--appointment processes can be vulnerable to misjudgment, favoritism, and other harmful ways that personal interests can override public duties.
The question is whether the promised benefits of an appointive process outweigh diminishing democratic principles and processes. A study of the impact of elected versus appointed treasurers in California a decade ago found that appointed treasurers achieved 19-31 percent lower borrowing costs than elected treasurers, largely due to different incentive structures (3). Individuals may argue about whether this difference outweighs diminishing democracy; I believe this study asks us to think about the value that we place on democracy.
Between 19 and 23 percent of registered voters in Westwood voted in the last three municipal elections, in April of 2020, 2021, and 2022. (4) While this reality may argue against allowing relatively few people to elect officials to important positions, it is also an argument for developing a more broadly based democracy in the community. We should not retreat from the hard task of making democracy work whether or not the warrant passes.
If town meeting members are to approve the warrant, as recommended by the Charter Review Committee and the Select Board, it would be important for all of us, including members of these offices, to make clear that this is not a step toward turning democracy into a technocracy.
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(1) file:///(DLS)/ GMT20221110-230340_Recording.m4a starting around minute 56.
(2) The DLS also noted a trend toward combining the job responsibilities of Treasurer and Tax Collector into one position and the agency also recommends this action. It is not clear why the Charter Review Committee did not incorporate this recommendation in the warrant.
(3) https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/668696
(4) https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/departments/town-clerk/voting-elections
Thanks to John Aram, a retired professor of management policy, and a recent resident of Westwood, for contributing this opinion to Westwood Minute.
Westwood Minute takes no position on the opinion articles that it publishes, but seeks accurate and thoughtful commentary on topics that matter to our community, from a variety of differing viewpoints. Feel free to reply with your reaction below, or submit another perspective to WestwoodInAMinute@gmail.com.
