Four local candidates vying for two seats in the Vermont House of Representatives answered questions at a public forum on Tuesday, October 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Valley Meade in Waitsfield. Housing, property taxes and education funding were the topics of focus.
The candidates running to represent the Washington-2 district – covering Waitsfield, Fayston, Warren, Moretown and Duxbury – included Gene Bifano, Warren (Independent); John Burns, Moretown (Independent), Dara Torre, Moretown (Democrat); who is running for reelection after serving a two-year term and Candice White, Waitsfield (Democrat).
The forum was hosted and moderated by Valley Reporter editor Lisa Loomis and Eric Friedman, executive director of the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce.
INCREASED ACCESS
On the topic of increasing access to housing in The Valley, all candidates agreed that local and state policies should make it easier for builders and developers to expand the housing stock. “Government spending isn’t the way,” Bifano said.
Torre said that the Legislature’s recent reforms on Act 250 -- an environmental review and permitting process that regulates development across the state -- does make it easier, in some ways, to develop more housing. She said that next year, if elected, she wants to more closely examine the implications of those reforms for development in The Valley.
Burns said that reforms on Act 250, however, didn’t go far enough. “We have room to build and we need to do so,” he said.
White would like to see developers, nonprofits and regional development corporations working together on housing issues. She called the expansion of housing a “savior” for other issues, like ensuring the success of local businesses.
FIND A HOME
The candidates each said they understand housing access on a personal level -- Bifano, because he was raised in a Bronx, New York, apartment in a low-income family and Torre, because her family struggled to find a home to buy in The Valley about 20 years ago.
While Burns said he bought a duplex in Burlington after he graduated from college and White was able to buy her $260,000 Waitsfield home as a single, full-time working mother two decades ago, both acknowledged that home ownership in Vermont is far less possible today.
Following questions from community members, candidates shared their views on issues posed by Short Term Rentals (STRs) and second homes -- many of which remain empty for much of the year.
Torre said that Warren has the right approach to STRs by drafting an ordinance that, if passed, would collect data on STR ownership in the town for roughly two years -- with regulatory implications to follow. She doesn’t, however, want to limit local families who rent their properties on a short-term basis in order to afford their bills, college tuition and the like.
IMPORTANT FIRST STEP
White agreed that data collection on local STRs is an important first step. She said that while STRs may be a problem, they are necessary in providing beds for the ski tourism industry. White was employed by Sugarbush Resort as VP of marketing, then VP of communications, for about a decade beginning in 2008.
Bifano and Burns said they were opposed to focusing on STRs in order to remedy the housing crisis. Developing housing stock is more important, Burns said -- “Let’s not get distracted by other issues like Short Term Rentals.” Regarding regulation of STRs, “I think the market will catch up with itself,” he added.
Burns suggested appealing to STR owners to become “better citizens, stewards and neighbors” rather than limiting what they can do with their private property.
Bifano said he’s heard from constituents that renting properties on a short-term basis is far easier than dealing with long-term tenants, who are protected well by state law. “In fact, Vermont needs a squatter law,” he said.
SIT EMPTY
Regarding second homes that sit empty for much of the year, Torre said local government can limit the types of homes that get constructed -- especially size, and that the state could possibly tax second homes at a higher rate and reinvest those funds in local communities.
White pointed to local regulations in other towns that required homes in village areas to be owned or occupied by full-time residents, while Bifano said second-home owners are not necessarily a problem, as they contribute to the local property management industry.
Bifano and Burns said rising property taxes, tied to the contentious way the state funds public education, was the reason they were both running for state rep seats. Bifano said he wants to change the state’s education funding formula -- which intends to distribute tax dollars equitably among Vermont cities and towns -- such that local taxes are not getting sent to cities with larger budgets, like Burlington. Burns said the way state law aims to make education “fully equitable” sounded to him like “an impossible goal.”
DISTRIBUTE THE BURDEN
Torre disagreed. “We need a fair way to distribute the burden,” she said -- adding that accountability with education funding is lacking. She said the Vermont Agency of Education needs to follow up with districts about whether the funding they receive is justified by education outcomes. Torre is also interested in exploring a new model in which districts get a fixed amount of funding, rather than spending per student, with “discretionary” items funded through other means, or voted on by taxpayers.
Candidates also touched on the rising costs of health care, flooding and climate change, access to child care and what Burns said was a polarization of the two-party system in state government -- another reason he chose to run.
Torre said the issue is less about political parties being at odds, and more about tension between the Legislature and the Scott administration. Another issue, she said, is a difference in opinion on the role that government should play in society. She said that while she believes government should alleviate issues around housing, health care and other complex problems, others simply disagree -- like Burns.
“When government gets out of the way,” he said, “people will step in.”
“It’s a real tension and it’s always been there,” Torre added.
