By Tom Mehuron
I have been following the reporting on the Mad River Planning District’s meetings with the Community Economic Development Committee in your paper. I have to say that it is extremely disappointing to see that the only proposals for increasing economic growth in the area are to either raise property taxes or enact a local option tax.
We already live in one of the highest taxed states in the nation and live in an area that has high associated property costs. Raising taxes will not raise the standard of living for those of us who live here. It will just make it more expensive to live here.
The comparisons to Stowe and Killington are insane. Most of the people who live here do not want to deal with the traffic or commercialism of those areas. They choose to live here because they don’t want stoplights and dense commercialism.
Waterbury comparisons? That’s a joke. Nobody on any of the development review boards or planning commissions on any of the towns in the Mad River Valley would allow commercial or office buildings the size of the ones that have helped spur growth in that town within our downtown areas.
A local option tax will not create more jobs here. It will just create more government and bureaucracy. Again, it will just make it more expensive for those of us who already live here without anything in return.
Do you want to pay 1 percent more for a shovel at Bisbee’s, 1 percent more for a bottle of wine at Waitsfield Wine Shoppe, 1 percent more for paper towels or dog food at Mehuron’s, 1percent more for tacos at Mad Taco, 1 percent more for your Mad River Glen or Sugarbush season passes, 1 percent more for your margarita at the Hyde Away? I certainly don’t and I can’t imagine too many people do. It is hard enough to compete in a small town and against the bigger businesses on price without another tax added to make it worse.
On top of all of that, the towns would only get 70 percent of that money. And with the towns looking for more funds for projects, I doubt much of anything will end up in marketing or economic development. More likely we will have more overpriced pocket parks and redundant sidewalks.
Why isn’t the discussion starting at the town level? Does Fayston even want to create a commercial area? Do the towns of Waitsfield, Warren or Moretown even want to expand their very limited commercial districts?
There used to be a time in Vermont when those types of questions would be asked and addressed first when discussing a town’s economic future. Now it just seems like the easy way out is to suggest raising or adding a tax.
Mad River Valley residents, do yourselves a favor and vote no on a local option tax when it is proposed in your town.
Tom Mehuron lives in Waitsfield and is the proprietor of Mehuron’s Supermarket.
