Every year on the 2nd Tuesday of March is Minnesota Township day. Close to a million residents live in townships across the state. They contribute in grassroots democracy to decide their annual tax levies and other policy changes in their communities.

Jim Aird, the Town Supervisor of Midway Township says residents in these rural communities make it a better place by voting.

“This Tuesday is the Township Day. It gives residents a chance to come in and ask, or we show the residents where we’re spending their money. Not like you live in a city or state where they say what we’re going to do. We show them, we get them to approve the budget, approve the levy,” Aird said. “Show the expected expenses we’re going to have, ‘this is how we’re going to tax you. This is where your tax dollars are going.'”

Aird says these annual meetings emphasize problem-solving. One example is utilizing volunteer first responders, meanwhile those tax dollars would be used elsewhere.

Kevin Comnick, is the Canosia Township Supervisor. He says smaller governments offer more opportunities for residents to meet local officials face-to-face, but also talk openly about problems in their community.

“I encourage people to come to the town board meetings. I encourage them to come to our annual meeting tonight, like everything else, they moved out here for a reason. They’ll be here if there’s something that really bothers them,” Comnick said. “Then it’s our job to listen to them, and if we can, take steps to address that.”

Now there are times where a resident might be unsatisfied with how the township fixes a problem. But Comnick says an important piece of township operations is navigating a mutual understanding that benefits everyone.

“There are things that townships are able to do, because you’re smaller in size,” Comnick said. “You can have conversations, you can have disagreements, but it’s okay to disagree. In the end, usually you can build a consensus, put the best way forward, and that’s what we try to do.”

Township residents used grassroots democracy for the annual tax levy and local policy issues. There’s several townships holding elections until 8pm for township officer positions too.