The Mad River Valley and many resort communities in Vermont are deeply financially intertwined with their second-home owners and out-of-state visitors. Our second-home owners are part of our community. They are our neighbors and friends.
Our economies are carefully interwoven with the contributions we receive from visitors and second-home owners. The property taxes that second-home owners pay bolster our town budgets – allowing us to be able to fund a recreation district that creates recreational opportunities for kids from Granville to Waterbury as well as the general public. Their taxes and their local shopping and dining and purchasing contribute to our economic vitality and are one reason we have the amenities that we have.
If there have indeed been instances of people with out-of-state plates buying cartloads of groceries at the local grocery stores, there have certainly been instances of local folks doing the same thing, or working when they are prohibited from doing so, or failing to social distance.
It’s really not about what state you’re from but your state of mind when it comes to staying in, social distancing, wearing a mask and doing so to protect others.
We can't have it both ways where we accept all the good that comes from our out-of-state neighbors during the best of times and we reject them during the worst of times. Recall how generously second-home owners opened their checkbooks after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 to donate to the Mad River Valley Community Fund? How can it be OK to accept the enormous outpouring of donations that came from our out-of-state homeowners and visitors after Tropical Storm Irene yet reject those folks now?
The fact of the matter is that we are a resort community with two world-renowned ski resorts and year-round recreational opportunities. We have amazing restaurants and phenomenal local food opportunities. We promote these things and people come here because of it. Some buy houses next door to us or across the street or down the road and become our friends and neighbors.
Some have owned their home here far longer than many full-time residents. This is their home as much as it is ours.
