To The Editor:
I read last week’s Valley Reporter with interest. On the front page was a report that our new combined school board is thinking about cutting teachers because of declining enrollment in our schools.
I then read Jim Boylan’s opinion piece about the purchase of the Mad River Park fields. I agree that these fields should not be purchased. It seemed odd that at the same time the school board is talking about teacher cuts, our select boards are talking about spending money on an unneeded playground.
Vermont consistently ranks near the top of states with the highest state and local tax burden. In 2016, Forbes magazine ranked Vermont as having the 11th highest state and local tax burden out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vermont is also in the top 10 for states with stagnant or declining populations. The census estimates that between the 2010 census and 2015 Vermont’s population grew by only 301 people.
We have to stop spending money on projects and land that we do not need and don’t have the population that can support the spending.
If you agree then you should talk to or contact your select board members and tell them to just say no to this unneeded expensive purchase.
Jerry Miller
Waitsfield
