Town Bites
by Edd Merritt and Nancy Wood,
February 24, 2011, page 1

Property Taxes, Route 7 Right-of-Way, Recession Stories and Rep. Welch Visits Charlotte

School boards and teachers reach tentative 3-year contract.
See CCS BoardsCorner on page 5 for details.

Town Meeting proposals offer stable property tax rates.
The Annual Report of the Town of Charlotte, distributed to all residents last week, is a wealth of information about the town and school, its activities over the last year and goals for the future. It includes details about births, deaths and marriages, delinquent taxes and salaries of town and school personnel, and audited financial statements. The Warning on page 5 for Town Meeting Day, next Tuesday, March 1, includes the town budget. This is voted from the floor and likely will be the major discussion item for the day, which begins promptly at 9 a.m. The election of officers and school budgets are voted by Australian ballot, not from the floor. The polls are open for voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room at CCS.
The impact of the budget proposals for town and schools can be found on page 14. The anticipated tax rate for municipal services is 0.1691, a 7.1% decrease from the current year. The cost to the owner of a $300,000 property would be $507, of a $500,000 property would be $846.
When education tax rates for CCS and CVU are added to the municipal rate, the total property tax rate for homestead property would be 1.5256 (a 0.7% decrease from current year) and 1.5288 for nonresidential property (a tiny 0.1% increase over current year). Total property taxes on a $300,000 homestead property (before income sensitivity) would be $4,546 and $7,577 on a $500,000 homestead. Taxes on a $300,000 nonresidential property would be $4,589 and $7,649 on a $500,000 property. Nonresidential includes commercial, seasonal and open land properties.

State changes rules on width of Route 7 right-of-way.
Route 7 property owners were surprised and confused to learn that the state is claiming double the width for the right-of-way along the highway. Ken Upmal, representing the Vermont Department of Transportation (VTrans) at the Selectboard meeting on February 14, explained that the Legislature now requires VTrans to use the original historical right-of-way surveys from the 1700’s, rather than a more recent statutory right-of-way definition. Upmal said many of the surveys for properties along Route 7 in Charlotte recognize the original surveys, that were for a six rod right-of-way (99 feet). This is double the statutory width of three rods (49.5 feet, with 24.75 feet either side of center line).
Selectboard member Ed Stone commented, “Ken, what you are peddling today is very different from what you were peddling 10 years ago!”
The practical effect of this change will be lower payments than expected to landowners when the reconstruction of Route 7, from the Ferry Road intersection south to the North Ferrisburgh line, takes place, possibly as soon as 2013. There will be fewer instances requiring compensation for land taken where the construction route deviates from the right-of-way. The state says the right-of-way is owned by the state, not the adjacent property owners.
New maps of the historic right-of-way were filed by VTrans in the Town Clerk’s office on Friday, February 18. Owners of property and the town have 120 days to file appeals.

The New York Times includes Charlotter’s recession story.
Last Monday Senator Bernie Sanders’ office published a book entitled Struggling Through the Recession: Letters from Vermont. It contains just over 50 responses to a question he asked, “How has the recession which began three years ago affected your lives?” Sanders received over 400 responses. One person, whose letter is included in the book, is Will Freed of Charlotte. Freed, 46, said he returned to school to gain the credentials to teach. What occurred in the process, he says, is that he accumulated “a mountain of credit-card debt.” It happened despite the fact that he always paid more than the minimum required, on time and regularly. The problem he faces, according to Freed, is that the “credit card companies raised my interest rates to 24.99%, and as a result the balances never went down much.” Saying he lives out of boxes because he cannot afford to move his belongings to Vermont from California and that he believes his job will be eliminated next year, he fears facing another relocation. “The ugly truth,” Freed says, “is that there are few jobs anywhere in the country for a high school English teacher.” He feels his situation is confidence shattering. “Worst of all,” though, Freed believes, “as I hear more talk about deficit reduction and further layoffs, I have the agonizing feeling that the worst may not be behind us.”
Op-ed columnist Bob Herbert quoted Freed on the Opinion Page of the February 21 New York Times, adding, “What is being allowed to happen to those being pushed out or left out of the American mainstream is the most important and potentially most dangerious issue facing the country.”

Welch addresses early-morning visitors to the Old Brick Store.
Congressman Peter Welch spoke with about 35 people sipping coffee around the table in the rear of the Old Brick Store Tuesday. He opened by saying that the federal budget, including costs and revenues, is a major item on his agenda. He believes that fixing it “is solvable despite all the elements.” Inclusion seemed to be one of his major themes, stressing it again in regard to healthcare that, “We can be successful, but we have to include all the things on the table.” He addressed what he felt to be negative impacts from corporate greed, particularly that of individuals, and he spoke of the hopefulness for improved agricultural return. Most of the audience seemed to support his efforts, by the same token, recognizing the rough road that lies ahead for Congress.