killington, nh

Vt. Town Wants to Secede to New Hampshire

KILLINGTON, Vt. - Officials in the popular ski resort area of Killington want the town to secede from Vermont and join neighboring New Hampshire in a dispute over taxes.

They say the town's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $10 million a year to the state capital in sales, room and meal taxes, but the state returns just $1 million in state aid to Killington.

Even more galling to the town is a statewide property tax imposed in 1997 to fund schools. The town of 1,092 won a Superior Court order that called the state's method of assessing local properties "arbitrary and capricious," but the state Supreme Court reversed that decision.

"It kind of reminds us of Colonial days," Town Manager David Lewis said Thursday. "The Colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were treating the Colonies as just a revenue source."

New Hampshire, just 25 miles east, has no income tax or sales tax.

Killington's Select Board wants to put the secession idea before voters on Town Meeting Day in March.

Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said Killington has little chance of secession "absent an armed insurrection type of thing. ... A town is a construction of the state and exists at the pleasure of the Legislature."

New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said he would be flattered if Vermont wanted to join New Hampshire — but he's not making any promises.

In Killington, not everyone likes the idea.

"I love having a Vermont address. I'm proud of it. It's a cool place to live," said resident Steven Kelly.

hahaha "new vermont". is killington within a state forest?

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Originally posted by acostiga


"I love having a Vermont address. I'm proud of it. It's a cool place to live," said resident Steven Kelly.

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What a reasoned response.
If VT needs people to help storm the administration buildings, I'm in.

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Originally posted by acostiga
"It kind of reminds us of Colonial days," Town Manager David Lewis said Thursday. "The Colonies were being faced with the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Sugar Act. England wasn't giving them any rights. They were treating the Colonies as just a revenue source."

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I think that Town Manager David Lewis should reread his history book. I think the cry was "No taxation without representation", not "Too much taxation with representation."

my first thought? convenient rest-stop liquor outlet stores on the way to killington.

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Originally posted by acostiga
my first thought? convenient rest-stop liquor outlet stores on the way to killington.

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Yeah. Have you seen those prices in the New Hampshire state stores? $25 Herradurra silver. Bring it on. Live Free or a Lot Cheaper!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...gton_secession

Killington Votes to Join New Hampshire
2 hours, 12 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By TIM McCAHILL, Associated Press Writer

KILLINGTON, Vt. - Voting with a thunderous "aye," residents endorsed a plan Tuesday for this ski resort town to secede from Vermont and become a part of New Hampshire instead.


AP Photo


AP Photo
Slideshow: Vermont Town Votes to Secede




The overwhelming voice vote opened the next chapter in what could be a long and costly push to join New Hampshire, 25 miles to the east.


Ultimately, the vote could prove to be only symbolic. State lawmakers in New Hampshire and Vermont will have the final say. And Vermont legislators said secession will probably be voted down.


Town officials said about two-thirds of the 200 to 300 people who attended the town meeting supported secession.


The main source of discontent is Vermont's new system of financing education, adopted in 1997 on orders from the state Supreme Court. It dramatically increased property taxes in wealthy communities like Killington.


Secession activists say Killington's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $20 million a year to Montpelier in sales, room and meal taxes, while the state returns just $1 million in municipal and education aid to the town of roughly 1,000 residents.


"The state is treating us like a cash-cow," said David Lewis, town manager.


Town officials will now draft a petition to present to New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson and the state's Legislature. Lewis said town officials want New Hampshire's approval before approaching Vermont's lawmakers.

sweet! does this mean that I'm gonna to be 25 miles closer to Killington?!? :rolleyes: Personally, I don't really care either way, but I think it would be hilarious if they seceded.

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Originally posted by acostiga
They say the town's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $10 million a year to the state capital in sales, room and meal taxes, but the state returns just $1 million in state aid to Killington.

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Financial jong question, but aren't sales, room and meal taxes paid for by the customer? Are they thinking they're going to get more than $1mil from NH, or just keep prices the same and pocket the difference?

Grandparents live in Mendon, I'll be up there a lot next winter I think...anybody skiing Pico on a regular basis? :)

Edit: or Burke for that matter? Uncle who came out for Silverton trip lives about 20min. away...love the Northeast Kingdom.

yea, our liquor stores rock. www.state.nh.us/liquor
even live inventory for us needy drunks. They would most likely get more than the equivalent in aid as they could raise prices while still charging the consumer less. Wonder if they've looked at our property taxes lately though...

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Originally posted by acostiga

They say the town's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $10 million a year to the state capital in sales, room and meal taxes, but the state returns just $1 million in state aid to Killington.

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Originally posted by tuffy109

Secession activists say Killington's restaurants, inns and other businesses send $20 million a year to Montpelier in sales, room and meal taxes, while the state returns just $1 million in municipal and education aid to the town of roughly 1,000 residents.

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Hmmmmmm.

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Originally posted by schuss
yea, our liquor stores rock. www.state.nh.us/liquor
even live inventory for us needy drunks. They would most likely get more than the equivalent in aid as they could raise prices while still charging the consumer less. Wonder if they've looked at our property taxes lately though...

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Depends where you live. I cut my property taxes almost in half when I moved from North Conway to Bartlett.

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Originally posted by trainnvain
Depends where you live. I cut my property taxes almost in half when I moved from North Conway to Bartlett.

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very true. But I doubt NH would have an incentive to drop em for Killington.

Yep, They would have quite a sizeable municipal budget for 1000 full-time residents. Didn't they change second-resident tax laws in Vermont a coupla years ago to help situations like this?