After serving for many years as town clerk and treasurer for the town of Dover, I’ve learned a lot about property taxes. And I’ve learned more than I’ll ever want to know about Act 60 and Act 68, which is why I am writing this letter.
I want to be very clear about one thing. Act 60 and Act 60 alone is to blame for the outrageous property taxes that are imposed on us by the state.
There have been many changes to Act 60 since it was first enacted 10 years ago, but the basic principle remains the same: the state takes our money and sends it to places like Brattleboro, Rutland, and Springfield. While we pay outrageous property taxes and struggle to provide basic services in our local school, we have no control over how our money is being spent in these other places.
The costs continue to rise, and more of the burden is shifted to our community.
Some people are trying to confuse the issue and blame Act 68 or the numerous other Band-Aids that have been applied to Act 60 over the years. That’s like building a house on top of a cracked foundation and then blaming the carpenters when the house sinks into the ground. It’s just wrong. Yes, Phil Bartlett voted for Act 68, along with the majority of the representatives, hoping to make a bad system better.
The problem remains the same – the people who gave us Act 60 don’t want change.
We should not lose site of the fact that House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington was one of the principal architects of Act 60. She worked hard to ensure the defeat of Phil Bartlett in 2006, and worked equally hard to block progress on property tax reform since then.
We have the opportunity to turn this election into a referendum on Act 60. We can vote for Gaye Symington and the Act 60 team, or we can vote for the people who will take a stand and fight for meaningful change: Governor Jim Douglas and Phil Bartlett for state representative. On November 4, I’ll be casting my vote for Governor Douglas and Phil Bartlett, and I hope you will consider doing the same.
Mary Lou Raymo, Dover
Post a Comment