Twin Road Names Lead To Property Confusion

Vermont Standard

By Curt Peterson

Standard Correspondent

KILLINGTON — Theodore M. Schulze told the select board Tuesday that he has purchased a property on Booth Road, leading to a discussion of which town — Killington or Bridgewater — has the authority to collect taxes and authorize the construction of a gate.

Killington Road Foreman Chet Hagenbarth said he was fairly certain Booth Road is entirely within Killington, not Bridgewater, and that his department has been maintaining the road for years.

“If that road is in Bridgewater,” Hagenbarth said, “we’ve been spending about $10,000 a year maintaining a road we don’t own.”

Based on Hagenbarth’s remarks, the select board began to discuss who was collecting the tax revenue for the parcel. Schulze and the foreman agreed to figure out together exactly where the property is.

Hagenbarth said he and Schulze went to the highway garage after the select board meeting and pored over the road maps.

“Turns out there are two Booth Roads,” Hagenbarth said. “The one that Schulze’s property is on is, in fact, in Bridgewater.”

According to Schulze, who spoke with Bridgewater highway department’s Randy Kennedy, Booth Road is a class 4 road, and since Schulze owns the land on both sides of the road and his is the only residence on it, the town of Bridgewater would probably have no objection to a gate Schulze wants to build.

“But Mr. Kennedy thinks there might be a continuation of the road that extends into Killington, so I should make sure you don’t have any problem with the gating idea,” Schulze said.

Schulze said he can see no evidence of there ever having been a trail or road beyond the Killington line.

The property Schulze bought is approximately 425 acres of an 862acre tract near the Chateauguay Wilderness, the site of a farm at one time very long ago and now consisting of valuable hardwood timber, large meadows and a small home. The larger package was on the market for over six months at a price of $1,350,000.

“We’ve got a newborn child and I have a business in Rhode Island,” Schulze said after the meeting. He and his child’s mother are planning a wedding in Providence in September. “I can’t say what our exact plans are for the property at this point.”

If he can find a way to establish an automotive business in Vermont like the one he has in Rhode Island, he would love to live here full time. He said the gate, which “is only an idea at this point” would be to provide privacy and security.

“My first improvement would be a barn to store equipment,” he said. Then, if living here works out, we would probably build a new house on the property.

The existing home, built in 1953, has one bedroom, one bath and 834 square feet of living space. Schulze has been furnishing it for now, and is installing solar panels, but has no current plans to do any remodeling.

In other business, Town Manager Deborah Schwartz announced the new tax rate for the upcoming year. The town property tax rate is $0.3333 for a 12-month fiscal year. The 2015-2016 rate was $0.4633, but it covered 18 months as the town converted from calendar year accounting to fiscal year accounting so the state education taxes and town taxes covered the same periods of time. For comparison purposes, an estimated 2015-2016 rate for just 12 months would be $0.3088.

The state school tax rate in 20152016 was $1.7364 for residents, $1.5052 for non-residents. The new rate will be $1.6227 for residents and $1.4852 for non-residents. The state education tax has always been on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30.

Schwartz announced the town had exercised its tax-anticipation loan for $900,000 at an interest rate of 1.4 percent.

“I want to point out that we have $395,554 in delinquent tax bills,” Schwartz said. “If we had this money, we wouldn’t have to borrow so much to cover our own bills.”

Selectman Ken Lee suggested that the four-installment tax collection scheme that was put in place to ease the pain of transitioning through the one-time 18-month budget, might be contributing to a summer revenue shortage as well. Tax bills are due August 15, and there is little or no cash left on July 1 to carry the town until revenue starts to come in.

Selectman Chris Bianchi and McGrath agreed that they should go back to the three-installment system, but that it couldn’t be done until Town Meeting 2017. Bianchi also suggested building up a reserve fund to provide cash during revenue-poor periods, another idea that has to wait until Town Meeting.

The results of the town slogan survey are in, according to Schwartz.

“Seventy-three percent of the responders want to keep the old logo, ‘The Heart of The Green Mountains’,” Schwartz said. “We had 106 respondents.”

“That’s more than we get out to vote at some Town Meetings,” Bianchi said.