Mary coming across Great Eastern at the top of Bear Trap.

Mary coming across Great Eastern at the top of Bear Trap.

I have been out of action for the last 30 or so hours with what may be a case of the flu.

Pretending to be healthy, Mary and I ventured out on the mountain for a few runs yesterday. I lasted 4 runs before calling it quits and heading off to bed for the rest of the day....so it goes.

Last night, Mother Nature dumped on Killington once again. The snow stake at the inn is sitting at 32 inches, which I believe is a record since I put it up 3 years ago. I will have to check back in the photo library to make sure, but there is a lot of snow on the ground at the Inn and on the mountain.

Monday evening, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Select Board of the Town of Killington, Town Meeting Article 8 was discussed. Article 8, for those of you who are interested, reads:

Article #8: "To see if the Town will, pursuant to Title 24 Section 138 VSA, assess (1) a one percent sales tax; (2) a one percent meals and alcoholic beverages tax; and (3) a one percent rooms tax, all being effective as of October 1, 2008. The revenue shall be expended by the Board of Selectmen only for municipal services which will be used for the creation, funding and staffing of a municipal Department of Economic Development and a volunteer advisory Commission and to generate additional four season business activity while stimulating the local economy through diversification and expansion of entertainment, special events and infrastructure to ensure that the Town of Killington remains a dynamic and vibrant destination."

Parsing Article 8 on the town meetings agenda into it's constituent elements leaves you with:
A. A program to begin focusing on ways to improve the Killington economy and;
B. A method to fund that program in a sustainable manner via tax collections.

Around town, there is almost unanimous support for the creation of a program to improve the Killington economy. At the margins, people will debate in a spirited fashion the scale and scope of such a program, but it would appear that many in town are in favor of it.

The method of funding a program to stimulate economic growth is another issue. On this issue, there is much debate.

Many in town favor the collection of a 1% option tax. Support for this is all over the map ranging from a belief that it is sustainable, that is is not voluntary, and that it gets most of its money from the Killington Resort; who by the way is the largest individual collector of sales, meals and rooms, and alcohol taxes in the community.

Others in town favor funding the program directly from the business community, either through the Killington Chamber of Commerce, or through the creation of a private foundation. One of the primary drivers for funding the effort privately revolves around the uncertainty of allocating tax money. Private funds can be directed by the "board" controlling the funds. Tax money is directed year to year, based upon town budgets. While the current board of selectmen have committed to spend any moneys collected from a local option tax on economic development, by law they can not commit funding for future boards or town budgets.

Another driver for funding the activity privately is the way taxes are collected in the state of Vermont. Any local option tax collected by Killington will only return about 65% of the proceeds back to the town. The State of Vermont will keep approximately 35% of the proceeds with 30% allocated to a program named PILOT and 5% used for administrivia.

Into this mix, the Killington Resort presented the board of selectmen with an alternative proposal on Monday evening. The resorts proposal, assuming town meeting Article 8 does not pass, included the following elements:

1. The Killington Resort would make an immediate contribution of $250,000 to the Killington Chamber of Commerce.
2. The Killington Resort would make an annual contribution equal to 1% of their revenue generated by rooms, meals and alcohol sales on an annual basis to the Killington Chamber of Commerce. This contribution would be conditional, provided that local businesses match by contributing 1/3rd of 1% of their revenue generated by rooms, meals and alcohol to the chamber as well. To put this number in perspective, Killington would contribute annually on the order of $200,000 with local businesses being asked to match the contribution with an additional $100,000 using tax figures available from 2006.

Where this will all go is a big open question as we head to town meeting day next Tuesday. In the past, I have strongly been in favor of creating a group to pursue economic development in Killington. I have also gone on record in public as saying that funding that group by tax collections, in so many words, stinks, but if no other method of sustainable funding could be found, I would have to hold my nose and vote for the tax.

While many of the details of the Killington Resorts Plan need to be finalized, I do believe that the resorts proposal provides a viable alternative to create a sustainable funding mechanism to reach the goal, without increasing taxes. Therefore, I no longer need to hold my nose while voting. I can comfortably vote no on Article 8.

As a reality check, for business owners in Killington, it is a zero sum game. They will either need to raise prices 1% through increased taxes, or find 1% in their operating budgets to provide as a voluntary contribution. Either way for a business, 1% is 1%. To the general public, however, raising taxes is a very negative message. Voluntary contributions by businesses working together for the good of the community is a very positive message.

No matter which way the town of Killington votes on Article 8 next Tuesday, much has been accomplished this year by local citizens working together. Whether Article 8 gets voted up or down, at the end of the day on March 4, the town of Killington will have in place a method with sustainable funding to pursue growing the local economy. And that is a very good thing.

Let it snow!