According to unofficial results from the Town Clerk’s office, 881 people voted in Town Elections today affirming the candidacies of everyone on the ballot. Since no one was running unopposed, no official candidates lost and everybody won. Rare when that happens. (The sole exception being Kathryn Turnas II, who was a write-in candidate for Selectboard.} The environmental question passed. The 1% Local Option Sales Tax squeaked by in a very close vote of 438 in favor and 402 against. The vote is only advisory and the number of voters low, but if the result tells us anything, it’s that there seems to be no clear concensus on this issue.
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Write ins and March 2014 Turnout
Declared Write-In: Kathryn Turnas II, 24 votes.
Full vote results here.
David Cadran, Fric Spruyt, and Stuart Savel were the only declared candidates failing to garner enough votes to become Town Meeting Representatives.
Total turnout – 11%, or 880 voters of 8,298.
D1 – 11%
D2 – 12%
D3- 10%
If someone could enlighten me regarding the "Full vote results"
which CG gave as http://www.brattleboro.org/vertical/Sites/%7BFABA8FB3-EBD9-4E2C-91F9-C74DE6CECDFD%7D/uploads/Town_Meeting_Results_3-4-14.pdf
The last row, “Early Ballots”, give two different numbers for “Processed” and “Returned”. One guess is that the difference is that the first is the number of absentee ballots sent plus those who vote in the Clerk’s office before the election day (as I habitually do), and the second number is the number of those ballots that are actually cast–the difference (somewhere between 7-9%) being those who requested ballots but didn’t submit them on time.
Is this reading right, or did I just dream up a plausible but not currently operational explanation?
Why such high taxes?
In recent conversations with a few property owners here in Brattleboro, I was shocked by how much they pay in property taxes. Why are they so high here? It’s not like we’re living in Bel Air. Out of curiosity, I did some research, and the number absolutely back up their outrage.
There are 10 states with median property taxes between .18-.58%. The state with the highest median property taxes, New Jersey, averages 1.89%. Anyone know what the median here in Brattleboro is? 2.1%! And in West Bratt, 2.3%!
As much as I don’t like the idea of paying additional sales tax, I can understand why property owners are fed up with their outrageous share of the burden. Plus I do most of my shopping online, and am mostly unaffected it anyway.
I realize the town offers breaks for certain low income house owners, but for at least one person I know, they own a commmercial property, so they don’t get any breaks, they don’t make much from their full time job, and between repairs, taxes, and deadbeat tenants, they actually lose money on their property here. Any other homeowners upset about getting screwed?
NJ / Vermont Median Income
To put things into perspective even a bit more . . .
New Jersey median income $71,600
New Jersey median property tax 1.89%
Windham County, Vermont median income $54,100
Brattleboro median property tax 2.1% and going up considerably next year due to the fire/police station project
But also according to another poster here on ibrat the percentage of houses receiving tax rebates is 2/3 so “certain low income house owners” isn’t really how I’d put it. “certain low income” should these days be replaced with “a majority of.” house owners.
I think this indicates a town governance that is way out of whack with what the town can really afford to do. That 2 out of 3 figure is rather astounding. I see it not as a comment on those seeking relief but a comment rather on how the town’s spending has become an unsustainable burden on most property tax payers.
In favor of 1% sales tax
This feels like the parking garage vote all over again. People don’t want it (property tax increase) but we’ll vote and re-vote until the powers that be get their way. 1% local options sales tax makes sense to me. Yes I’m a homeowner but I also shop in town whenever financially possible. I’m more in tune to the price of an item and I doubt that a 1% tax spread over all shoppers won’t make a huge difference to anyone, even the many low income people I know.
Bad PR
Where the 1% tax shift makes a difference is in perception. The perception of shoppers surrounding Brattleboro will be to avoid shopping here if possible, as it will always be more expensive.
Add in that we already have tax and NH does not, plus we charge you for parking (and fine you for parking errors), and we already have two other local option taxes, and the internet makes it easy to shop online.
This is a bad PR move more than anything.
This is also an example of property owners wanting new shiny things to protect their property, but then not wanting to pay for it and passing the costs along to others who do not directly benefit from having someone to protect their homes from fire.
If the 1% tax was going to support the general operation of the town, I’d be more favorable, but even then it could be a very costly PR blunder that makes business struggles worse.
It certainly won’t increase business.
Do Property Owners REALLY Want This?
Chris,
“an example of property owners wanting shiny new things”
How do we know WHAT property owners want since this was never put to a vote.
I think your entire paragraph is a little unfair to property owners in general as you are assuming that they 1. want the police/fire station $14million project and 2. want the 1% tax. Neither is verifiable as far as I know. Do you have some info I don’t? As far as I can see the only indication about anything is that the vote for the 1% tax was almost an even split so it seems voters (and assuming most or many are property owners) are quite torn about this.
As for the police/fire station $14 million project who knows what property owners as a group want. My suspicion is that if this went up for a vote it might just as likely be voted down. Heh, now there’s an idea, why not put it to the town for a vote, then we’d know for sure how property owners really feel.
Why Not a Town Vote ? ? ? ? ?
DUH! The answers pretty simple. It wouldn’t pass. And we know how well the town reps (true, not all of them) represent the money and big interests in town.
Unfortunately the ones who would vote it down if they were a town rep are the ones too busy working two or three jobs, taking care of their kids and having a difficult time paying their bills as it is now let alone after the humungous tax increase this project will put on their backs. They don’t have time to be a rep.
This is really a sad time for Brattleboro and its residents.
Sorry, more clear...
I’m saying that fire stations are generally to protect property, so it makes sense that property taxes, not a 1% sales tax, funds it.
You are right. The vote in October 2012 to do this was 99-34. Under 100 people approved of the project.
1% for a better Brattleburg
By the same logic, fire departments also protect business equipment and retail stock, so the sales tax and business personal property tax should also pay.
But I don’t agree. It would be better for the town to earmark any 1% sales tax for some kind of program of investment in the community.
I'll take exception
to LEH’s last sentence:
1. You’re “more in tune”–presumably, than anyone you know–regarding the price of an item. The operative word you omitted was “presumably”.
2. It “won’t make a huge difference to anyone, even the many low income people I know.” There’s so very many ugly ways to read that. I’ll settle for putting it on the record that it will affect this low-income person that you don’t know disproportionately.