http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140910/NEWS02/709109909
The large pond and picnic area near the home of the late Edgar May of Springfield, known as Muckross, could become the state's newest park, according to his final wishes. Published September 10, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Muckross Park gets board’s blessing in Springfield By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Select Board has unanimously endorsed the proposed new state park that is being created at the longtime Springfield home of the late Edgar May, a longtime Springfield lawmaker and community leader. The Select Board voted Monday night to support the project even though the 200-acre Muckross Park will now go off the town’s tax rolls. Town Manager Robert Forguites said that May’s home and property had been assessed by the town at $400,000, and had paid a total of $8,200 in property taxes, since the land was in state’s current use program. But half of the taxes — roughly $4,200 – represent the property’s school taxes. Making Muckross a state park will not affect the overall amount Springfield receives from the state toward education expenses, leaving a direct loss of $4,000, Forguites said. The town will be eligible for state payment in lieu of taxes, which is 1 percent of the value of the insured value of the buildings and 1 percent of the value of the land — which roughly equals $4,000. And, he said, if the state makes any improvements to the buildings at May’s former home, the town’s state payment will go up. Forguites said that the state plans on spending about $1 million on Muckross before opening a day camp next summer for Springfield disadvantaged children, as well as opening the remote property to the general public. May had discussed leaving Muckross to the state before he died, but didn’t have a firm plan at the time of his death in December 2012. His sister, former Gov. Madeleine May Kunin, and her children, his heirs, are going to donate Muckross to the state, as well as funding some of the renovations, Forguites said. Forguites said the buildings had deferred maintenance needs, but that the bigger immediate priority would be the dam on Muckross Pond, a bridge, and the private road leading to the property. “It’s an old property, but I won’t say it’s been neglected,” said Forguites. Forguites, who outlined the state’s plans, said that Deborah Markowitz, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, which includes state parks, wanted to make sure that the town supported the plan. Selectwoman Stephanie Thompson said creating a park out of May’s home was a tribute to him and his commitment to Springfield. “The idea of having it become a park follows Edgar’s legacy,” she said. “The return to the town is greater” as a park is greater than just the lost tax revenue, she said. Selectman Peter MacGillivray, while saying he supported the idea of Muckross Park completely, said he objected to the board being relegated to a “rubber stamp” of the plans. “I support it 100 percent,” said MacGillivray, while saying he wished the town had been involved in the state’s plans earlier. “It’s great asset to the community,” said Forguites, who said he had been discussing the project with Markowitz. May, who served Springfield as both a state representative as well as one of Windsor County’s three state senators, died in December 2012 at his winter home in Arizona. He was 83 and had lived in Springfield since the 1960s. His first wife was from Springfield. May had operated a small hydro station at the dam, enough to heat his home. Forguites said he didn’t know what would happen to the hydro station. Muckross, which was completed in 1911, was the “country home” of W.D. Woolson, an executive with the Jones & Lamsom Machine Tool Co., which in its heyday was one of the largest employers in the state. It takes its name from a large country house and garden in Ireland. The large home and other outbuildings are more reminiscent of an Andirondack Great Camp, with several outbuildings and rural recreational facilities.
Paging Joe Foreman! Yet another clear sign that the town has become hopelessly punch drunk from having been rocked by too many years of economic head shots and body blows. Somebody needs to administer the smelling salts to the select board before they sell all of the town and its citizens down the river on one state inspired boondoggle after another.
ReplyDeleteOption A = U buy it
DeleteOption B = Find someone to buy it
Option C = Let it rot
Option D = Let it become a haven for dope addicts
Option E = Go forward with a small amount of $ and do something with it for the public.
PS If you never have been there U should check it out, it is a cool place.
A. It's private property. Someone already owns it and pays taxes to the town. Keep it that way.
DeleteB. If the owners want someone to buy it, let them find someone to do so rather than sloughing it off on the good taxpayers for a tidy little tax write-off.
C. Rotting is always an option.
D. State parks and other public places are already notorious havens for dopers and this now will likely be no different.
E. It's always starts with "a small amount of $", which inevitably become bigger amounts of the taxpayers dollars which invariably leads to higher and higher taxes which then discourages working people to relocate to Springfield - something that the town's government just can't seem to understand.
PS Let the May family keep their "cool place" and pay for its memorialization to Edgar themselves, while continuing to pay their fair share to the town that Edgar allegedly loved so much (from his other home in Arizona).
If we keep looking back at the things that have hurt Srpingfield, we won't be able to see the opportunities to create a bright future. I'm sorry to see the retrogressive attitudes, especially the "us versus them" innuendos about people struck with drugs. There is a lot of pain in the lives of our young people; let us address the causes of that.
DeleteGood, looking forward to this new park. It is good for Springfield.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mays.
Stupid is as stupid does. Taxpayers, please remit your checks to the town before departing and turning out the lights!
ReplyDeleteRE: "opening a day camp next summer for Springfield disadvantaged children" R. Forguites
ReplyDeleteDamn it Bob, can't you spew a more creative cliché then, it's for the children? Bottom line is it's a net loss to the tax payers of Springfield and all of Vermont. Where do you think the staff will come from to run and maintain it? What about the $1M in work necessary just to open it?
Worse part of all, the only ones it will benefit are those that already disproportionally consume community services. Like flies to feces they flock here as the do-gooders stick it to us working stiffs that fuel this non sense and somehow manage to raise respectable children.
Apparently the Springfield select board consists of either low grade 2x4s or old weathered barn boards, all of which are lacking of any cerebral content.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the select board should just endorse the conversion of the entire township into a state park and then resign.
ReplyDeleteTaxpayers of Springfield should be outraged at the way the town government succumbs to the apparently hypnotic effects of every harebrained, boutique idea that seems to offer a quick fix to the doldrums and malaise that has enveloped the town. Perhaps this town government is not much different than the streets full of addicts and junkies that it has now become home to. The board shoots up on superfluous initiatives and slaps on the cosmetics like they're the prescription for a brighter tomorrow...until tomorrow arrives and they find that they're actions have only just made them poorer, weaker, more confused, and more dependent than ever on the pushers (usually state and federal government or politicians) that supplied their misguided habits in the first place. Could it be that the town fathers and the drug abusers have now come to deserve each other?
ReplyDeleteGood thing we springfield tax payers don't send any money to the state that they can piss away fixing this money pit. Oh wait....
ReplyDeleteThis is the first I have heard of this proposal. . If they want the "town" 's opinion, why not put it to a town vote rather than let the Selectpeople vote on it since it obvious they do not represent the town.??????
ReplyDeleteHere's what you have to understand. Previous election cycles here in Spfld have clearly established the parasites now have a critical mass. They have come aware they have the leverage to award themselves any benefit they desire.
DeleteShrewd, liberal, politicians like Emmons, Martin, Campbell, McCormack, and Nika have all taken a page from the Bernie Sander's playbook. Ignoring the virtues of hard work and sacrifice, each pander's to the dregs and special interests insuring their perpetual reelections. The net effect of both a parasitic electorate and a government hell bent of redistribution of wealth is what greets you on our thoroughfares, empty factories, abandoned homes, loitering addicts, legions of fatherless children, and a charging station.
Springfield has been a dyeing town for several years and it's only accelerating towards its inevitable fate as the Detroit of Vermont. But hey, just like the Wreck Ctr, a State Park will resolve our plight. Fools.
I want to donate my car to an organization, do I need to put that up for a town vote?
DeleteNo, just tag the plates off it and leave it in the parking lot at either the town office or the police station. Rest assured, you will receive only the highest reward from the town for your effort!
Delete9:35 AM speaks the truth.....thank you.
DeleteU can donate ur car to me
DeleteI don't think the select board reads this stuff (this blog site).
ReplyDeleteI don't think the select board reads anything. They just wait for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns or some other state or federal agency to tell them how to vote.
Delete