Boredom, Fatigue, Capitulation... Pick your adjective... The 2006 Killington Town Meeting was downright calm this year. Unlike the fireworks that erupted in prior years, this years meeting was very reserved.

The school meeting kicked off at 9:00 AM. After a brief discussion, and a few handouts from the local school board, it was very apparent that there was little to vote on at the School Meeting. The part of the school budget the town has direct control over, the elementary school budget, will increase by 1.3% from last year. The high school budget, which is voted on separately as part of the Woodstock Union High School, will go up 9.98%. This provoked a very arcane discussion in which 62 physical students were magically turned into 82 "Equalized Students". When asked about the details of the calculation, the School Board head, Steve Finneron, was at a loss to be able to explain it in enough detail to be understandable. This was, by his own admission, due to the complexities of Act 68 and it's modifications by the state legislature. The superintendent of the Woodstock Union took the floor to try to explain the number. When she failed, she said that she would have the number reviewed, and if it was wrong, that the Secretary of State for Vermont would "readjust" the calculations and the financial allocations. For a context, you need to understand that these people were trying to explain this to Killington voters, before the voters were to cast ballots on approving the budget. The Elementary School budget passed on a voice vote. The high school budget is by Australian ballot. We will not know what that vote was until tomorrow, at the earliest, but many residents were resigned to the fact that there is no control of this budget at the local level, and that the discussion only served to prove it.

At the town meeting, which began just after 10:00 AM, there was again little discussion. Town Manager, Dave Lewis, presented a budget that was for all intents and purposes the same as last year. In usual Killington Town Meeting fashion, a small item on dog catchers, which was a $3700 line item on the budget, was discussed about and voted on separately. (Why discuss big budget items when the small ones are so much fun!) It was decided to leave this item in the budget. Overall, the school budget of $1,277,320, and the town budget of $2,601,000 minus $625,000 in non-tax revenues and $70,000 in excess cash on hand were both approved.

Collectively, because of changes in the State Education Tax, the resident tax rate for 2007 will increase from $2.013 to $2.398; a 19.1% increase. If a capital measure for the Woodstock High School passes with the voters, the overall taxes will increase to $2.471; a 22.75% increase. It should be noted that if you look at the State Education Tax component separately, that one tax will increase from $1.726 to $2.104, a 21.9% increase. If the Woodstock High School capital measure passes, the education tax rate would jump to $2.177, a 26.13% increase in education taxes for Killington residents. Ouch!

At the town meeting, both Harry Chen (D), the state representative for Killington, and Wendy Wilton (R), one of the senators representing Killington spoke to the assembled masses. Harry has filed a proposal to have the legislature form a committee to work with New Hampshire on Killington's secession bid. Harry felt that his bill would probably not make it out of committee. Harry also spoke on his pet project, Health Care Reform. A bill called "Catamount Health Care" has been passed by the House and is making it's way to the Senate. Wendy spoke of her concern with the "sustainable funding" of the health care initiative and several other red meat republican issues. For both speakers, I think the Killington audience was underwhelmed, although Harry was at least asked a few questions. Due to the complexities of Vermont politics, neither has succeeded in delivering any substantive government reform which would positively impact the town of Killington, and it's residents and property owners.

In other items, Horace "Red" Glaze stepped down as town moderator, after 29 years of service. He handed the gavel to local attorney M.B. Neisner. Town Manager, Dave Lewis, was honored for 30 years of service to the town of Killington. And Robert "Sal" Salmeri from Moguls was honored by the recreation department as the Ken Krantz "Volunteer of the Year".

Killington Peak from Superstar Lift
March 6, 2006, 11:00 AM 

Beautiful! That about sums it up.

First day back on the slopes after being out out with the flu for a week. Absolutely gorgeous day. I took a bunch of different pictures around the mountain, but the key attraction of the day was brilliant blue skies, which I thought were best represented by the attached picture of Killington Peak from the Superstar Chair.

Conditions were groomed packed powder all over the mountain. This weekends near foot of fluff has been compressed to a respectable 2 to 3 inches of soft snow over the previously firm base. Every trail we took this morning allowed for big, wide, "Hero" carving turns. Very, very nice!

Today was a day for the "Triple Plays" with some bonus runs thrown in. We started on Downdraft to High Line via Rime. The we did the "Canyon Triple" including East Fall, Double Dipper, and Cascade, as the Canyon Quad started loading just before 10 AM. We then traversed across the mountain and did the "Skye Peak Triple" including Super Star, Skye Lark, and Bitter Sweet. Conditions were so good, we wandered over to Vertigo, which was a "do-over". We were on Vertigo just before noon, and the head wall had softened up beautifully. All of us made nice carving turns down Vertigo, requiring a second lap just to make sure it was as good as we though it was. It was! All in all, a very good day.

Tomorrow should be equally good for visitors to the area. For locals, on the other hand, tomorrow is "Town Meeting Day"; an adventure in local politics. The Town Meeting begins at 9:00 AM at the Sherburne Elementary School. While there are no real local issues this year, expect a lively debate over the State of Vermont's plan to raise Education Taxes by 21% for local residents and 12% for local businesses and second home owners.

Killington Peak from High Ridge
March 5, 2006, 12:30 PM
Double click to enlarge image 

Skiers and riders at Killington today were rewarded with warmer temperatures, soft snow, and brilliant sunshine.

Yesterdays light fluff is compressing under the weight of 100% sunshine and mild temperatures. Weekend crowds are enjoying late winter conditions. From the looks of the resorts parking lots, many are slow to leave the mountain this afternoon because of the nice conditions.

Skye Peak shrouded in Snow
March 4, 2006, 2:30 PM 

A clipper system is dropping multiple inches of snow on the western Green Mountains. Snow depths are very altitude dependent. We have received almost 3 inches of very light, fluffy, snow at the inn at the 1900 foot level. Our chef, who lives in Mendon, reported 8 inches of fluff in his driveway at the 2200 foot level.

Skiers at the resort today experienced light snow with medium visibility all day. Crowds at the resort were fairly heavy, as is usually the case for the first weekend in March. For those of you with local knowledge, cars were parked on both sides of the access road from the Killington Base Lodge down to the Snow Shed Base Lodge at 2:00 PM this afternoon. Guests returning to the inn are reporting good ski conditions with knee deep powder in places, although they are also reporting that some trails with high traffic are skied off to hard pack and ice.

I'm Flying!
Practicing for the Freestyle Competition
Lower Wildfire Terrain Park
March 3, 2006, 1:30 PM 

Looking outside, you would never imagine the chill that is in the air. While there is 100% sunshine at Killington today, there is also a bone chilling breeze. It is quite a paradox for the senses.

Over the last couple of days, the mountain was groomed totally flat. Skiers and riders were observed all over the mountain with large rooster tails trailing behind them; a sure sign that the surface layer has been machine groomed to a fine dust, over a firm base.

Work is continuing over at Bear Mountain to prepare for the Freestyle Championships later this month. Building of the large ramp on Outer Limits is almost complete. Many organized groups were observed training on both the Superpipe and in the terrain park on Lower Wildfire. Today's picture was taken from the Bear Mountain Base Lodge looking up Lower Wildfire at a ramp mid way down the slope. A group was doing jump training on the ramp. Just out of the frame to the top, there was a group of about 20 skiers and riders waiting their turn to take the hit. The group was well organized, with a spotter on the ramp for safety purposes.

Cover to Killington Town Report 

The snow storm that might have been has gone south of Killington. Unlike the last couple of very sunny days, today Killington is bathed in overcast. It appears that the snow storm threatened by the local weathermen has missed us again; dropping it's load of snow on the south coast of New England, instead of in the mountains.

The Killington Town Report arrived in mail boxes earlier this week. Town Meeting Day is set for Next Tuesday, March 7th. The meetings are held at the Sherburne Elementary School located on School House Road. The festivities begin at 9:00 AM with a School District Meeting, followed at 10:00 AM with the general Town Meeting.

Act 60/68 is assured to continue to drive controversy at the meetings. According to the town report, the total K thru 12 spending will increase 5.2% ($111,439) from a budget of $2,122,013 in 2005/06 to $2,223,452 in 2006/07. Almost all of the spending increase is associated with increased spending in the Middle and High Schools, which are under the control of the "Woodstock Union High School" According to the state formula, Killington will have "134.34 Equalized Pupils" enrolled in K-12 in 2007, down from "139.21", a 3.5% reduction.

The "Education Tax Rate" paid by Killington residents will increase from $1.726 to $2.104, a 21.9% increase. Businesses and second home owners will see an education tax rate increase from $1.6639 to $1.8651, a 12% increase. As you can see from these numbers, the "Education Tax Rate" is basically decoupled from the school budget, even though state officials proclaim that there is "local control". How a 5% spending increase begets a 12% to 21% tax increase is not something that can be easily explained or defended. I know that I follow this stuff pretty closely, as it has a major impact on my business, and I can't figure it out. (For completeness, it should be noted that the municipal Town Tax Rate will also increase from $0.2936 to $0.2944, a 0.27% increase.)

Killington Peak
March 1, 2006, 1:00 PM 

A gorgeous sunny mid winter day at Killington. Temperatures are in the mid 20's with near 100 percent sunshine.

Mary reports that crowds were slightly smaller today than yesterday. Surfaces have soften slightly with the temperatures raising to the 20's. Also, the inch or so of light fluff we received last night also has helped maintain snow surfaces. We are currently watching a storm to the west of us. Again, you can shop your weatherman to pick the forecast you like. We will know some time tomorrow night.

This week is "Jack Daniel's" week at Killington. Chef Steven has prepared "Lamb Shanks Braised in Jack Daniel's" to serve in our dining room this week to mark the festivities. Maybe a shot of 'Old Number 7" will help speed my recovery from the flu?