A new study reveals a number of struggles for small towns in Vermont, including a disproportionately high number of town leaders who are over 50 years of age and male.
The study conducted by the Center for Research on Vermont relied on a combination of survey data and public information, mostly gathered between June and August.
“It underscores what all of us have known for a while, which is that our small communities are struggling,” said Richard Watts, director of the Center for Research on Vermont.
The study examined 562 individuals in 137 Vermont towns who serve as either town manager/administrator, town clerk or selectboard member.
In total, 97.5% of people identified as white and 76.8% were over age 50. 47% were over age 60.
Selectboard members were two-thirds male, while town managers and town administrators were three-quarters male. Meanwhile, nearly 80% of town clerks were women.
Watts points to a markedly elderly and homogenous population in Vermont as one of the biggest issues facing rural communities — so much so, he said, that town leaders are focusing significant energy on attracting new people to their communities.
“It used to be you deal with your town budget and what roads to pave,” Watts said of town leadership roles in Vermont. “Now town leaders are thinking about how to attract new people.”
UVM student Lucy Heisey, a researcher on the study, said she found the gender differences in leadership positions throughout the state to be the most consequential finding.
“Women were serving more traditional secretarial roles,” Heisey said, “while men were more often elected officials in governing positions.”
Among other things, the study revealed a lack of news coverage in small Vermont towns and indicated that federal American Rescue Plan Act money may not provide adequate funding to fully cover the projects small towns hope to complete.
Another student researcher, Charlotte Crum, said she was most fascinated by the lack of youth engagement in Vermont local government.
“If we don't have young people participating in local government, it's going to be really hard for Vermont to have the system of small towns continue to operate in the way it has in the past,” Crum said.
