Brattleboro Representatives are holding their Representative Town Meeting. The crowd is slowly gathering at the gym, where those elected will be talking town and school business for most of the day. Will they approve an extra 1% local option tax? Will there be surprises, twists, and turns? We will find out.
The Town portion of business comes first, and there are a number of preliminary formalities to endure before actual business begins.
I would like to thank our Town Meeting Reps and the Brattleboro Selectboard for reviewing and reconsidering the support of the 1% Local Option Sales Tax.
I would like to express my opposition to this as a resident that has owned and operated small businesses here in Brattleboro spanning over the last 13 years. At this point it is no secret that running a business in Southern Vermont is a very difficult thing to do. And yes, it may seem that one penny on one dollar or bringing the Brattleboro sales tax from 6% up to 7% may not be a big deal but it really is. Right now, with every business in town competing with online retailers like Amazon, or watching potential customers go across the river to tax free New Hampshire, I feel strongly that this is not a beneficial option for the town nor to the businesses in Brattleboro.
The Brattleboro Arts Committee will meet on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, at 1:00pm in the Hanna Cosman Meeting Room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro Traffic Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, February 21, 2019, at 8:00am in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Municipal Center.
The Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee will meet on Thursday, February 21, 2019, at 5:30pm in the Cusick Conference Room (2ndfloor) of the Windham Regional Career Center, located at 80 Atwood Street.
At Tuesday’s special meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard discussed adding a 1% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to items purchased in the ‘boro. Adding this additional revenue stream to the Town coffers has been attempted before. Most recently it barely passed as an advisory vote, but was ultimately rejected.
The main argument in favor of the tax usually involves the expected revenue. In 2015, the estimate was $600,000. This, in theory, could offset property taxes by that amount.
But, taxpayers have seen these property tax reducing “deals” many times before, and property taxes do not go down. Spending rises to meet the new income.
