Why is Burlington a Town?
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Why is Burlington a Town?
Everything you need to know about the difference between towns and cities in Massachusetts
I used to think a municipality's population and whether or not it had a mayor determined town versus city status. While researching local government, I learned I was mostly wrong. So, here's the scoop.
The standard legislative body for municipalities in MA is Town Meeting, where representatives from each precinct meet periodically to approve financial warrants, zoning requests, and bylaw additions or updates. But that can get unwieldy. I'll say more about TM in my next post, but as an example we have 126 Town Meeting Members in Burlington. In other towns, anyone in town can vote at TM. This can bring a lot of perspectives and facilitate good conversation, but that's a lot of people to involve in a truly participatory discussion.
Towns also have a Select Board (called Board of Selectmen in some towns) - they're the executive branch of the town. They don't approve laws but can initiate and make recommendations on warrant articles (that's the town's version of a bill), and they oversee the implementation of the laws once they're in place. They might also appoint a town manager or administrator to help with that. We have a town administrator and an assistant town administrator.
When a town starts to feel TM is not an effective way to manage its complexities (especially fiscal ones), it can petition the state to change its government to a city form, which involves a town/city council and (optionally) a mayor.
Population does figure in here, but there's not a magic cutoff point that flips the switch between town and city. According to my mass dot gov source below, between 25k and 45k, towns and cities are more or less evenly split. Over 35k, 83% of our municipalities are towns. Burlington's population is about 27,650.
So, there you have it. I hope I clarified any curiosity you have regarding the difference between towns and cities in Massachusetts and why our humble town is just that - a town. Questions? Click here for more info.
Why is Burlington a Town?
Thank you for trying to educate people. Actually most towns in MA have an "open" Town Meeting (259), where ALL citizen of the town may show up, debate, and vote on the business of the town. Only 33 towns have representative Town Meeting as Burlington does. Often they are implemented whenever turnouts at Town Meeting become too large to become unwieldy or when obtaining a quorum becomes too challenging.*
Burlington is neighbored by Open Town Meetings (Billerica, Bedford, & Wilmington), Representative Town Meetings (Lexington), and City government (Woburn)
Don't be fooled into assuming a municipality's form of government. Arlington which is so large you might assume it is a city is actually a town, while Barnstable on Cape Cod is actually a city with the name "Town of Barnstable".
*Did you know that in the Burlington Bylaws can compel Town Meeting Members to attend Town Meeting if there is not a quorum present. That provision is a hold-over from Burlington's days as an Open Town Meeting. One of our neighbors told us a story of picking up a prescription at the pharmacy for his sick daughter, when a policeman came & "compelled" him to go to Town Meeting, while the policeman would deliver the prescription to his wife waiting at home.