We know that you know how important next Tuesday’s local elections are but we also know that so many of you opt to stay home that we can only wonder how you weigh that importance.

Is it possible for people to know, to even articulate, the importance of something, yet choose not to participate? Well, yes, because we do it every year. Every year our local elections roll around, every year we have the opportunity to choose selectmen and school board members and to vote on budgets and other spending articles, yet every year so many of us stay home.

We know that people are busy. We know that so many have to go to work, have to take care of the kids, have to do both. Everything that you do is important. We get it.

But the people we elect on Tuesday are the people who will set the spending levels for our towns, the spending levels that will affect how much disposable income you have after you pay your (grossly unfair) property taxes and, in Wilton, for instance, your sewer and water bills.

And you get to choose those people.

Folks, it’s your money so don’t you want a say in who gets to decide how its spent? Of course you do.

We believe that the vast majority of the people who run for local public office are decent, caring people with the best interests of their towns at heart. That doesn’t mean we always agree with their decisions or how they spend your money, and our money, which is why we believe it is so important to vote in March.

Certainly, it is important to vote in November for the folks who will represent us in Concord and Washington, but we cannot emphasize enough that those people have less direct impact upon our daily, local lives than do, say, members of a school board. Our schools cost a heck of a lot of money, and it’s your money, our money, and we have a greater say in who makes the decisions than we do on a state-wide or a national election.

So, please: Get thee to the polls on Tuesday and vote.

And if you live in a town that still has Town Meeting or even a School District Meeting, try to attend those, too. In a town like Lyndeborough, for instance, many spending decisions will be made on the Saturday after Tuesday’s election.

Let’s all try to do our part.