Merged district rewarded with lower homestead tax rate

Rutland Herald | February 22, 2018

By JULIA PURDY
CORRESPONDENT
KILLINGTON — The newly established Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District has finalized a proposed 2018-19 budget of $17.95 million.
The budget projects $17,455 spending per equalized pupil across the district, just under the $17,816 limit allowed by the state.
The district will hold an informational meeting about the budget on Tuesday at 7 p.m., at the Woodstock Union High School gymnasium in Woodstock.
A budget summary spreadsheet for Killington, prepared by Richard Seaman, director of finance at the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, shows an “estimated actual homestead tax rate, equalized” of $1.6383 per $100 of assessed value.
“Our tax rate is down because we got the 8-cent incentive because we voted to go into the merged district,” said Jim Haff, a Killington resident who sits on the current Windsor Central Supervisory Union finance subcommittee.
“The factors that led into this are: the 8 cent incentive and the town common level of appraisal went from 100.98 percent to 103.37 percent because, while our property values have decreased, our Grand List has not shown the decrease,” he said. “Houses in Killington are selling for almost 4 percent less than the Grand List has them valued at.”
The WCMUUSD Board has notified the town of Killington that local school boards will no longer be presenting at their respective town meetings. WCMUUSD member districts include: Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, Woodstock (all grades PK-12) and Barnard (grades 7-12), according to the WCMUUSD annual meeting warning.

The Killington Elementary School and the Woodstock Union High School boards will continue until June 30, said Haff, and will be replaced entirely by the newly formed WCMUUSD board beginning July 1.
The Killington School District will convene its final annual meeting on Monday, March 5 at 4:30 p.m. at the Killington Elementary School to hear school board directors’ reports and hold a floor vote for a director for the remainder of the Killington Elementary School Board’s existence, from March 7 to June 30.
Laura McKenna, who currently serves as clerk for the Killington School District, is running unopposed for the remaining term.
Two people will represent Killington on the WCMUUSD board, Haff said. They will be Jennifer Iannantuoni for a 3-year term and Haff for a 2-year term. Haff and Iannantuoni also serve on the current Windsor Central Supervisory Union finance subcommittee until June 30 and will transition to the finance subcommittee for WCMUUSD July 1.
On Tuesday, March 6, voting by Australian ballot will be held at the polling places of the member towns for the purpose of voting on the 2018-19 budget. Killington voting will take place at Killington Town Hall, on River Road, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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Select Board candidates focus on the budget

February 21, 2018

Mountain Times

By Polly Lynn Mikula
KILLINGTON—On Town Meeting Day, March 6, voters in Killington will be asked to approve general fund expenditures of $4.4 million, of which $3.17 million will be raised by property taxes. This represents a tax rate of $0.41— a 4.4-cent increase per $100, or 11 percent, over last year.
The three candidates running for the one open seat on the Killington Select Board have all stated that the town budget is a priority. This week we asked them to further explain their positions.
First time candidate Kelly Lange said she supports the current budget and encourages voters to pass it.
“I will be voting ‘yes’ on the current budget,” Lange said, adding that she thinks it addresses past obligations as well as important future initiatives but also looks for meaningful cuts so as to limit the tax increase for voters. “We knew our tax rate would be going up this year, but efforts were made to mitigate the increase,” she said.
“After reading the auditor’s report and executive summary [in the town report] and familiarizing myself on this year’s budget, I think it’s clear that we are getting back to where we need to be,” Lange added, citing “clearing up the Irene debts and building back up a reserve fund (which the auditor told us should be a priority).”
Candidate Jay Hickory disagrees. He says he plans to vote “no” on passing the budget on Town Meeting Day and urges other voters to vote it down, too. “I don’t trust the numbers,” he said. “I believe it needs to be looked at better with a new person on the board and reappropriations need to be made, minimally,” he said.
When asked for specifics, he suggested that “trims” could be made at the library, recreation department and the town offices themselves. He would recommend getting those extra costs out of the budget all together with the hope of lowering the tax rate.
Past Selectman Jim Haff said that while he personally cannot vote for the budget without all the pertinent debts (“missing chapters”) included, he’ll respect what the voters choose. “I’ve learned a lot in listening to voters, so I’m good either way,” he said. “If the voters want to pass it, we can work with it, but if for some reason the voters don’t pass the budget, I do think we could do better.”
Haff said that in 2011 when the budget was defeated, “it was a very smooth transition that year. We were able to cut about 10 percent from the budget and there was no noticeable changes in town operations.”
Haff added that there is always “fat” in a budget that can be cut, but doesn’t feel the current Board has made those though choices. “Two months ago, in a Select Board meeting, the Board was talking about a 10 cent increase, now they’ve worked it down to a 4-5 cent increase. But the way they did that was just to delay things,” he said.
But Haff cautioned that cuts would most likely be negated by responsible reallocation of those funds to current infrastructure capital plans and debts. “Let’s get down to business, find our true financial situation so we can put a plan together to get rid of our debts and move this town forward.”
Investments
“We have seen the recent success of the town’s mountain bike trails,” Lange said of town investments. “But voters have to see the benefits of those investments; so we always have to make sure we’re getting the return on those investments… We also have to make sure that we look at all the components to be sure we understand how it might affect other investments, infrastructure and departments so we don’t end up paying more in the end.”
With regard to the town-owned Green Mountain National Golf Course (GMNGC), Lange said, “My priority, in general, is to get the golf course at least to a break-even point, where it’s not losing money.”
Jay Hickory suggested looking into “subletting food and beverage” at the golf course. “The town doesn’t need to be in food and beverage. If we subbed it out we could plan on the money and would have no hassles,” he said. He also feels that the golf pro and golf manager should not be the same person. Adding that he distrusts current town leadership, specifically citing the manager/golf pro at GMNGC, the town manager and Select Board.
Jim Haff explained his position. “I believe I’m different on the budget issue because for the last eight years my position has always been that the town should be looking after the core departments, which include: library, school, recreation (which should include the golf course), highways, and public safety,” he said. “We need to invest in what we have, we need to keep the infrastructure we have in shape and not forget what we have while wanting to build new.”
Haff cited improper budgeting for the future needs of the golf course and town pool as examples of investments needed for existing infrastructure.
“I just want to bring the facts forward and let voters decide,” he said. “My issue with the budget (confirmed by the auditor) is that we have not been given all the chapters in our budgets, so how do we, as a community, make the right decisions and set the property priorities for our town? “
Candidate forum
On Monday, Feb. 26, from 7-8:30 p.m. the Killington Pico Area Association will host a Killington Select Board Candidates Forum. The event will take place at Killington Welcome Center. All three Killington Select Board candidates have confirmed their attendance. Citizens may submit questions prior to the forum by emailing admin@killingtonpico.org. The event is free and open to the public.

Killington Select Board Candidates Forum

Public

· Hosted by Killington Pico Area Association

 

 The KPAA is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a forum for candidates running for Killington Select Board. This event will take place at Killington Welcome Center located at 2319 US Route 4, Killington, VT. All 3 Killington Select Board candidates, will be attending; Jim Haff, Jay Hickory and Kelly Lange. The purpose of this event is to help voters get a better understanding of the candidates; positions, thoughts and ideas on the various challenges facing our community. Citizens may submit questions prior to the forum by emailing admin@killingtonpico.org

• Monday, February 26 at 7 PM - 8:30 PM   Killington Visitors Center

• 2319 Route 4, Killington, Vermont 05751   Intersection of Killington Rd. &  Rte 100/4

Killington Select Board candidates outline platforms

February 14, 2018

Mountain Times

By Polly Lynn Mikula
KILLINGTON— Three candidates will face off for the open seat on Killington’s three-person Select Board. Jay Hickory, Kelly Lange and Jim Haff are all running to replace Chris Bianchi, who is not seeking re-election. Chuck Claffey, had originally submitted a petition for the seat as well but has since dropped out, casting his support for Haff. Whoever wins the seat on Town Meeting Day, March 6, will join Steve Finneron and Patty McGrath on the Board.

Q&A with candidates for Killington Select Board

Jay Hickory

Mountain Times: Why are you running for the Select Board?

Jay Hickory: I have always been a proponent of serving your community.  I think this is a great opportunity to do that and believe strongly that we need an influx of new ideas and maybe even a little common sense when tackling town issues. I have unanswered questions about the current budget and some concerns with town leadership.

MT: What is your experience and/or familiarity with Killington town governance?

JH: I have lived in Killington for over 30 years and served on the Killington Zoning Board of Adjustment for six years. I do understand all the components and what is expected of a Select Board member; including night meetings, BCA, and an occasional day meeting, trainings, and the public’s ability to contact me at any time with their issues and concerns. To have a strong governing board, we need to make sure that everyone has a voice and is heard.

MT: What is one of the main things that is NOT working well, in your opinion, under the current leadership? How would you change it?

JH: I have unanswered questions about the current budget and some concerns with town leadership. I also have concerns with Green Mountain National Golf Course and feel that the golf pro and manager should be two different people. I feel that there are a number of things that can be done differently to make it run more efficiently.

MT: What is something that is currently working well in your opinion and how would you bolster that?

JH: Town management begins at the top. I have great respect for the support employees of the town and think that it is imperative that they be involved in the hiring process for leadership and other positions. We have a great team of employees who love this town and want to see us be the best we can be.

MT: What do you want voters to know about you that they might not already?
JH: I was born and grew up in Bridgewater, Vt., and have lived in Killington with my wife and raised three children in the town for over 30 years. I work as a plant manager at Vermod, a company that builds high efficiency, net zero modular homes. I owned my own business for several years, and have worked for several people in Killington. I have been fortunate enough to donate my time and expertise to help the Rotary Club renovate a town resident’s home after his skiing accident so he was able to return home. Along with other small jobs for other townspeople, it has been an honor to be part of this community and to be able to help others when needed.

Kelly Lange

Mountain Times: Why are you running for the Select Board?
Kelly Lange: I am committed to Killington’s future as a successful resort town with a strong community base. For this to happen, we need: (1) responsible town financial oversight; (2) to provide resources for all community members and (3) strategic planning for maintenance of town infrastructure and assets.  With my background of developing solutions to complex health issues for Vermont, serving as vice president of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, and a deep commitment to this community, I am well prepared for the Select Board.

MT: What is your experience/familiarity with Killington town governance?
KL: As a resident of Killington, I follow our Select Board, school board and other town activity through local news, conversations with community members, and board minutes. Within our community, the ability to engage and educate yourself on the issues is important and can occur within formal and informal settings. I take advantage of all information sources.
MT:  What is one of the main things that is NOT working well, in your opinion, under the current leadership? How would you change it?
KL: I am really proud that our community has joined together to focus on being a successful four-season resort town.  With this commitment, we need strategic planning to ensure we leverage our assets, while maintaining sufficient capital and reserve funds to support maintenance and investment in our infrastructure and services.  We are at the moment where we must reevaluate our town finances and debt obligations, managing our funds and assessing revenue in the most efficient and productive manner.

MT: What is something that is currently working well in your opinion and how would you bolster that?
KL: Our town is successfully becoming a true resort town.  The increase in tourism dollars is enabling broader year round employment. This progress clearly demonstrates what can occur when the community works together with a common goal. While the resort offerings have expanded so have the town assets, such as mountain biking. Such development of our assets not only aids tourism but more importantly encourages workers to stay in town and become residents.

MT: What do you want voters to know about you that they might not already?
KL: Many people know I enjoy the outdoors and coaching in the children’s Future Stars program for the Killington Ski Club.  What may not be clear is my background experiences and education that will serve as important tools should I become a Select Board member.  I’m a former teacher and dean of students, an attorney and now director of health care reform at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont with experience in regulatory and employment matters, budget development, grant writing and management.  My proudest role is being vice president of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports Board. Serving this community organization has been extremely fulfilling. It has provided me the opportunity to strengthen my leadership skills and gain experience in budgeting and strategic planning, while helping my community.

Jim Haff

Mountain Times: Why are you running for the Select Board?

Jim Haff:  I’m running for the Select Board to provide the voters in the Town of Killington with the correct information to make educated decisions on various town issues. I believe the town needs to understand its current financial position in order to know how to best move forward in whatever direction the voters choose. I’ve been quoted as saying the town has two separate financial books. I want to clarify that statement by saying that I only repeated what the Town Auditor Ron Smith stated at last year’s informational meeting. When Ron was asked what he meant he went on to explain that the town powers have left out chapters of the financial reports. So I am running to bring all outstanding chapters into our financial reporting to the voters so that when we vote we know where we stand.
MT: What is your experience/familiarity with Killington town governance?
JM: Where do I start? I’ve sat on the Killington Select Board , I’ve been involved with Killington pre-K and Killington Elementary School, I’ve sat on the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, and I’ve filled in as town health officer. Currently, I am one of two Killington representatives for the middle school/high school board and I’m the chair of the finance committee for that board. Additionally, I sit on the buildings and grounds sub-committee of the middle school/high school and I also sit on the new Act 46 MUUD (Modified Unified Union District) board and have been appointed to the Act 46 MUUD finance committee.
As for familiarity, I’ve been active with Killington governance since 2006.  I believe that town government has one set of obligations to its voters and tax payers for:  public safety, roads/highways, schools, parks and recreation (which include programs for ages 0-infinity, and also the golf course), and the town library.  I believe if our town takes care of these issues, it’s done its job.  I understand how property appraisals affect Town revenues and the budgets, and I’m familiar with Act 60/68 and Act 46, all of which significantly impact your taxes.  Along with that, I believe that if businesses want to succeed, then businesses should invest in themselves.  Voters and businesses have come around to this idea — as exemplified in the repealed the 1 percent sales tax, which passed last year.
MT:  What is one of the main things that is NOT working well, in your opinion, under the current leadership? How would you change it?
JM: Again, the town needs accurate and fair reporting from Town Hall (i.e. all chapters must be included in the Town report).
MT: What is something that is currently working well in your opinion and how would you bolster that?
JM: It’s hard to say when not all the chapters have been included in the finances that we are making decisions on.  But such chapters are finally starting to appear, such as: the FEMA debt does really exist, and lack of funding for the infrastructure of the golf course. I’d bolster our town by including all the chapters and taking care of the above issues.
MT: What do you want voters to know about you that they might not  already?
JM: I really am a nice guy!  I have an issue when numbers state one thing and others try to argue against those objective truths.

Killington budget finds some savings

Rutland Herald | February 13, 2018
By JULIA PURDY
Correspondent

KILLINGTON — Voters will be asked to approve town general fund budget expenditures of $4.4 million when they cast Town Meeting Day ballots next month.

The budget would be supported by $3.17 million is to be raised from property taxes and $984,300 from other tax revenues.

The remaining amount, an estimated $245,457, will be supplied by the remaining balance in the current budget, said Town Manager Deb Schwartz.

Voting for the budget and town officers will be by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 6, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the town office. A public informational meeting will be held Monday, March 5, at Killington Elementary School.

Expenditures include $868,586 in capital fund allocations, $654,480 in indebtedness, and $2.87 in general fund expenses.

Major sources of nontax revenues include federal and state payments ($344,300), recreation programs ($64,150), and the local option rooms and meals tax ($384,650).

Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath noted that the municipal tax rate is 40 cents, down from the current fiscal year.

“We tried to keep things as conservative as possible,” McGrath said, adding that savings of almost $350,000 were achieved by eliminating funding special events, events administration and strategic investment activities (Killington Gateway beautification, wayfinding, grantwriting and World Cup).

Responsibility for those items were transferred to Killington Resort and the Killington-Pico Area Association in exchange for the town rescinding the local option sales and use tax (but not rooms and meals). That arrangement will take effect July 1.

“Our goal is to build up reserves so we can operate more financially efficiently while maintaining existing facilities and services for the town residents,” Schwartz said.

Requests from organizations and agencies seeking voter support total $82,130, up by 1 percent from the current year.

Requests for funding include: Visiting Nurse and Hospice, $2,530; Rutland Mental Health, $1,250; Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging, $800; Ottauquechee Community Partnership for Youth, $500; Shining Light Mentoring, $500; Advocacy Resources Commission, $300; Rutland Women’s Shelter, $350; Rutland Humane Society, $300; Retired Senior Volunteer Program, $200; Green Up Vermont, $100; Vermont Council on Rural Development, $500; Rutland Parent-Child Center, $300; American Red Cross, $500; The Mentor Connector, $500; Vermont Adult Learning, $200; The Bus (Marble Valley Transit), $1,200; Killington Aquatics Club, $500; Child First Advocacy, $400; Rutland Regional Planning Commission, $950; Vermont Rural Fire Protection Task Force, $100; and Habitat for Humanity, $500; Appropriations to government functions include Killington Fire Warden, $400; Ambulance, $3,250; Cemeteries, $4,000; and Rutland County Tax, $62,000.

Jim Haff, Jay Hickory and Kelly Lange are all vying for the three-year Select Board seat vacated by Christopher Bianchi.

Haff has been a Killington resident since 1997 and previously held a three-year term on the Select Board from 2010-12. He owns and operates Butternut Inn and Pancake House in Killington.

“Town debt catches my interest,” he said. His motivation is “to bring the town back to fiscal responsibility so we as voters can make well-informed decisions in the areas of schools, the library, all-inclusive recreation and roads.”

Hickory is a native of Bridgewater; he works as the plant manager for Vermod zero-energy modular homes in Wilder. He said his concern is town finances, especially the recreation department and programs. If elected, he expects to continue work on the fiscal year 2019 budget.

Lange is running for public office for the first time. She said she knows many young professionals in Killington who want to get involved in the town.

“What is important,” she said, “is focusing on our budget. There are a lot of changes from Montpelier. It’s important that the town has an engaged Select Board to control costs but making sure we have sustainable infrastructure and the capital and reserves to support programs, from our active seniors to the school board.”

Lange has been a Killington resident for six years, serves as vice president of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, and works as director of health care reform at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Montpelier.

Four vie for Killington Select Board seat

Mountain Times

February 1, 2018

By Polly Lynn Mikula
KILLINGTON— Four candidates will vie for the one open seat on Killington’s three-person Select Board. Jim Haff, Jay Hickory, Kelly Lange and Chuck Claffey submitted petitions  with at least 10 signatures to the town by the filing deadline, Monday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m., securing their candidacy.
Chris Bianchi is not seeking re-election.
Jim Haff is a past Selectman and the owner of the Butternut Inn. He has run for the seat before, most recently losing to Ken Lee in March 2017.
Jay Hickory has also run for the seat before, most recently losing an election for the seat vacated by Ken Lee, who resigned Oct. 1, 2017. Steve Finneron won that seat 87-48 in a Dec. 5 townwide election with 135 ballots cast.
Candidate Charles (Chuck) Claffey is the director at Natwest Markets, and Kelly Lange works for Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Whomever wins the seat will join Finneron and Patty McGrath on the Board.

Comment: Reports state Chuck Claffey has dropped out and endorsed Jim Haff.