http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20140115/NEWS02/701159907/1003
Published January 15, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Town interested in local gas tax By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Select Board wants to investigate the feasibility of a local gas tax to help fund repair of the town’s crumbling roads. The board endorsed a plan by the chairman of the town’s budget advisory committee that calls for a 2-cent-per-gallon tax, a plan that might raise as much as $250,000 a year. Everett Hammond, chairman of the budget group, said the proposal would be forwarded to Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, as next week is the deadline for drafting new legislation. The Select Board voted 4-1 in favor of investigating the local gas option tax, but had voted down the proposal when it included a 3-cent increase in the state gas tax, which would be redistributed by the state back to towns. Local control is best, the board said. Voting against pursuing the local option tax was the chairman, Selectman Kristi Morris. Voting in favor were board members Michael Knoras, David Yesman, Stephanie Thompson and Peter MacGillivray. Springfield is grappling with how much money to put into its 2014-15 town budget for road paving and reconstruction, and is facing a decision whether to reconstruct or just repave two miles of Pleasant Valley Road. Hammond, a professional engineer and the former public works director for the neighboring town of Rockingham, said a complete rebuild of the road would save the town money in the long run. Hammond and the budget committee had considered proposing a statewide increase in the gas tax, but instead endorsed seeking a local tax. “We decided to ‘keep it local,’ and keep it in our own towns,” Hammond said. Hammond said the five gas stations in Springfield, including a very busy truck stop near Interstate 91, could help the town find alternative funding to solve the road maintenance issue. Town Manager Robert Forguites said other local option taxes approved by the Vermont Legislature for sales or rooms and meals include the state getting a share of the local tax. The proposal endorsed by the Select Board called for all of the tax going back to the town. But as Knoras said, the Legislature would likely make changes to any proposal, so it would be “chopped up,” in his words. The board included the proviso that municipalities would be exempted from any additional tax. Hammond said the New Hampshire gas tax is lower than Vermont’s gas tax, and New Hampshire also has a lot of funding problems for road projects. “They are talking about a gas tax,” he said. Plus, he said, he doubted that drivers would go hunting for cheaper gas just for two cents. Exactly how much additional funding the 2-cent gas tax might raise for Springfield, Hammond said, he didn’t know because he had been unable to get statistics from the state Monday. But based on personal observation, he said, a fair amount of gas is delivered to Springfield’s gas stations, which he estimated would mean $125,000 to $250,000 a year from the local 2-cent tax.
Even more reason to buy gas in NH. Springfield already has high gas gouging prices!
ReplyDeleteREALLY???? This is getting out of control! Lets squeeze a little more out of the little guy so the fat cats can sit back collect more tax money and spend it on something else. The taxes are high enough now that there is no reason why the roads are the way they are. Maybe if they kept up with them over the years that they wouldn't be the way they are now. Main street hasn't been paved in seems like forever. Every time I drive down it the front end of my car feels like it is going to fall off. Enough with all these "patch jobs". If they did it right the first time then they would have lasted much longer. Didn't the state just raise the tax 5 cents for this exact same thing?? It's about time people consider legalizing pot so this can be taxed and help pay for this.
ReplyDeleteThat's only going to hurt the gas stations and people making low income. Just like Shaws does with there outrageous prices. It will not generate more revenue. The roads are fine for the most part. The bad ones are in 25 mph zones anyway.
ReplyDeleteAgree. One more attempt to drive business out of Springfield. Here's an idea, why not make full use of work release, prison labor? Most of the work is mindless tasks anyhow. How about the dozens of people sentenced to community service and restorative justice each week? Why do we never see them benefiting the town? Crapload of options to raising taxes.
ReplyDeleteGiven Springfield's and Vermont's legions of liberal/progressive politicians, why don't they just petition the president to declare the hapless town as one of his new "Promise Zones"?
ReplyDeleteSpringfield has repeatedly cut off its nose to spite its face and here it goes again with the same lazy, worn out plan - tax, tax, tax, and spend. Springfield's leadership is bankrupt. They are devoid of fresh ideas or innovation. They repeatedly take the easy way out - tap the taxpayers for more and more so that in the end the town has even less. They are truly and totally clueless and Springfielders should be embarrassed that their elected officials even let such a ridiculous consideration even see the light of day.
ReplyDeleteThis gutless board won't take a stand on a biomass plant that could increase the grand list and generate revenue for the town, yet they're perfectly comfortable with rolling out another tax increase on the citizens of Springfield.
Wake up voters! This ought to tell you something! They're playing you for the fools they think you are!
Re: “Exactly how much additional funding the 2-cent gas tax might raise for Springfield, Hammond said, he didn’t know because he had been unable to get statistics from the state Monday. But based on personal observation, he said, a fair amount of gas is delivered to Springfield’s gas stations, which he estimated would mean $125,000 to $250,000 a year from the local 2-cent tax.”
ReplyDeleteThat profound statement from the CHAIRMAN of the budget advisory committee???
Once again, Springfield is being dragged down a rat hole by somebody with a SWAG figure! You know, a Scientific Wild-@ssed Guess! His “personal observations” are wholly insufficient to be basing any number on. This is why the Springfield Municipal Government has led the town into a complete shambles. There is no real rigor to any of the town’s processes, be they budgetary of otherwise. Almost everything is opinion-based rather than fact-based.
Hello, voters, do you get it yet? Your elected officials are actually lending credence to such nonsensical methods, which in the end comes at your expense!
So here's the simple question. Why don't all of the "wake up, voters" crowd file to run for office? Could it be because it's easier to stand on the sidelines and complain?
DeleteSimple answer: Anyone with rational solutions for Springfield could never get elected in that town anymore anyway. Just witness the annual votes. The town and the majority of its voters continue to exhibit symptoms of insanity by voting for increasing taxes every year while returning the same lame politicians to office. They have entered into a self-inflicted unending cycle of pain, misery, and despair because of their habitually wrong decisions at the ballot box. Given a choice between voting for Abraham Lincoln and Tinker Bell, Springfield has reached a point now where it would elect the latter every time.
DeleteYou are right Mr. Hammond; I will not go hunting for cheater gas. I will just buy it in Ascutney on my way to work or in NH. It will also mean I won’t be buying eggs, bread, milk, etc. that I purchase when I get gas. Way to hurt the small business people in Springfield. A time when the Springfield School Board is cutting 1 million dollars out of their budget, leave it to the Springfield Selectmen to continue to raise our taxes and add another one!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea.
ReplyDeleteThe town's self-appointed undertakers continue to hammer nails into the town's coffin. After driving a spike into the town's heart earlier this century by agreeing to become a "prison town" for the State of Vermont (an albatross that will hang around the town's neck for at least the remainder of this century), they now appear intent on punishing the good citizens of Springfield even further by increasing their cost of living well beyond what living in Springfield is worth anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe undertakers have transformed Springfield from a town that used to send machine tooling around the world and governors to the state capital to a serfdom of the state - keeper of its criminals and recidivists, a haven for the burgeoning "something for nothing" elements of society, a hapless host to sundry state offices, and a land where hopelessness now resides in its abysmal splendor.
But, they say, it's only 2 cents, or 5 cents, or a few cups of coffee a week. In reality, these are just a few more slices in the hide of a town that is on its way to its death by a thousand cuts! Springfield's leaders have one track minds - tax...tax...tax...tax...tax...hoping in some incredible way that by depleting taxpayers of what little wealth they still possess, a dying town will by some miracle achieve prosperity. I believe this is referred to as the Kevorkian Economic Model, where death comes, guaranteed!
In lieu of flowers, votes may be cast against every member of the town's select board and calls for a new budget advisory committee are welcome!
NO NO NO to gas tax. You are already crippling property owners now. Why don't you man up and take a positive stand for the bio mass project which would result in not only jobs and commerce ,but by far more tax revenue.Forward thinking please.
ReplyDeletehell just put a couple cent tax on all the beer sold in town, then we can pave all the roads
ReplyDelete