Vt. Town Wants to Secede to New Hampshire

ap | January 9, 2004 | associated press

[kahoutek]

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.

[kahoutek]

In Killington, not everyone likes the idea.

Like hell.

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[TheGeezer]

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

Tragic evidence of maple syrup poisoning.

[dvwjr]

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."

Normally I would agree about the supremacy of the State over one of its political subdivisions, but if they took their case to a Federal Court they might win. All they have to do is point to the case of Virginia vs West Virginia during the Civil War. Virginia did not wish to give up the territory; Lincoln said that the States in rebellion had never left the Union; Congress approved the succession in 1863 and created a new State from and old one with out the approval of Virginia.

Maybe the Yankees can use a precedent they originated...

dvwjr

[laurav]

You know, this is an issue that festers in towns/areas with large amounts of vacation property and few permanent residents. States jack up taxes on such places because the residents live elsewhere, and so don't vote in local/state elections. In effect, taxation without representation. Some people I know with a country house in upstate NY took the step of making it a "farm" (neighbor is allowed to graze his cows there and take the hay) thus massively lowering the taxes. It's funny, because these individuals find the Democratic party a bit rightist for their tastes. But when it comes to your own individual property taxes, the soak-the-rich ideas go right out the window.

[sheltonmac]

Secession *ping*

[JohnGalt]

Killington needs to aim a little higher...

[Vermont Lt]

This from a state that has the gall to elect New Yorkers to run it and a communist to represent it in Congress. The fact is that Vermonters have ceded their rights to outsiders who wish to retain the "charm" of the state. BS.

When I lived there, we used to call the Ski areas (Stowe, etc.) and the Burlington area, "New York Vermont." We did so because it was the Vermont that people thought should be there. Quaint and countrified.

Go to the other parts of the state and you will see economic gloom. When you ask why things cannot be developed more, or have small businesses start up--the answer is that the regulation is too onerous and the part time residents who control the tax base dont want the change.

Of course, the tax base is being driven up by the SUV crowd from NY, NJ, and CT to the point where the natives cannot afford to live there.

So they are between a rock and a hard place. And the folks in Montpelier are too disengaged to understand.

And I though MA was a mess.

[bobjam]

I think a massive redrawing of state lines might be in order. Here's how:
Philadelphia will go to New Jersey while sparsely populated northern NJ will go to Pennsylvania.

Massachusettes, Connecticut and Rhode Island will be merged into one state. Really, what the difference between them?

The District of Columbia will be abolished and the property returned to Maryland.

California will be divided into three states: one for LA, San Diego, etc., one for San Francisco/Palo Alto area, and one for the normal people who live everywhere else.

Orlando, Tampa, Daytona Beach, and everything south will become its own state. The state bird will be the flamingo and the state song will be the Mickey Mouse theme song.

[nothingnew]

Tragic evidence of maple syrup poisoning.

BWAHAHAHAHA!...Kiwi-Strawberry juice all over my monitor and keyboard!

FMCDH

[4CJ]

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."

And the vast empty state, pre-existing the citizens, cities and towns, creates each new city? What a marron!

[TomServo]

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

[4CJ]

What a marron!

Typo - What a maroon!

[Constitution Scholar]

moron?

[BureaucratusMaximus]

What a marron!

Typo - What a maroon!

Are you series? Marron was much more appropriate. That guy is in a class by himself...he's not worthy to be called a maroon.

[Dan from Michigan]

And Detroit goes to Canada......

[Dan from Michigan]

Maroon - Bugs Bunny's term for moron.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Chicago goes to Indiana? (in order to save the rest of us Illinoians, politically speaking that is)

[RightWhale]

Where is Killington? Is it near Bellows Falls?

[Dan from Michigan]

Unfortunatly, that would make even Indiana solid dem.