Needed Killington road repairs prompt tax increase

By Josh O’Gorman
STAFF WRITER | December 21,2013

 

KILLINGTON — Road improvements are driving the first proposed increase in the municipal tax rate in three years.

For the past six weeks or so, the Select Board has reviewed the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014. As it stands, the proposed budget of $4,055,447 represents a 9 percent increase in general fund expenses, or $320,000, which equates to an additional 2.3 cents on the tax rate.

Of that increase, 65 percent, or $208,000, is for the town highway department, which has had to defer maintenance in recent years because of the lack of sufficient money on hand to make repairs.

“This budget represents us paying our bills and not putting things off,” said Town Manager Seth Webb, who looked at highway funding levels past and present to make his point that the highway department is underfunded.

Webb said during the 1980s, the town was spending, on average, $339,000 a year for gravel and paving projects. Since 2009, the town has budgeted, on average, $220,000 annually.

While funding has decreased, the costs to repair roads have only increased. In 1986, it cost $117,000 for every mile of paving; in 2013, paving costs $266,000 a mile. In 1986, a mile of gravel road cost $76,000. Today, the cost is $135,000.

To get a jump-start on the work, voters will be asked on Town Meeting Day to approve a 10-year, $1.4 million bond for road repairs, with the cost of the first year’s payment included in the budget proposal.

For a town that has cut funding for road repairs, the roads themselves are in decent shape overall, according to a report created by Chet Hagenbarth, director of highways and facilities for the town.

Using standards provided by the Rutland Regional Planning Commission and Vermont Local Roads — an organization funded by the federal Highway Administration and the state Agency of Transportation, whose mission is to provide road and bridge information to municipalities — the report found that 70 percent of the town’s paved roads are in “excellent” or “good” condition.

Twenty percent of the paved roads received a grade of “fair,” and 17 percent of roads received a “failed” grade.

In addition to funding for road repairs, the budget also includes the following increases:

n $49,000 for operating and capital purchases for Killington Fire and Rescue.

n $27,000 for additional patrol hours and equipment for the Killington Police Department.

n $29,000 in benefit increases from additional police and clerk staff.

Killington has not seen an increase in the municipal tax rate for the past three budget cycles, chiefly because the town has used its savings to stabilize the tax rate. However, the town is not using savings this year to ease the budget increase. For the owner of a house appraised at $300,000, an additional 2 cents on the municipal tax rate equates to an additional $60 a year in taxes.

The Select Board has instructed Webb to cut another half a penny from the tax rate, which will require some combination of $40,000 in revenue increases and budget cuts.

The Select Board will next meet to discuss the budget at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Town Offices on River Road.

josh.ogorman

Comment: The roads did not get attention because the town was busy building and paying the debt off on the golf course as well as building hay bale sculpters and financing other events to help a few businesses in town. Now that strategy has come home to roost.
Its debatable as to the urgency of the need to repair/upgrade the roads. From observing Chet Hagenbarth's presentations in front of the Select Board I would think the spending could be spread out further than it has been.
As to the tax rate being level for the past three years there is one and only one reason, Jim Haff's persistence in holding the budget down so the tax rate would remain stable. The savings alluded to in the article were the so called "undesignated funds" which were uncovered by Jim Haff. These funds by law were supposed to be allocated at the end of the year to offset the next year's budget with a provision to have a reserve equaling three month's of the town's operating budget.
So to say the town used savings is a bit misleading as these savings were a result of ignorance, mismanagement or willful disregard by the town's government in properly allocating these funds as required by law.

Vito