Manchester OKs hotel option taxes
MANCHESTER — Residents delayed taking a stance on wind power for Little Equinox at Town Meeting on Saturday but did choose to enact a 1 percent local option tax on hotel and motel rooms.
1 percent tax
After considerable discussion, resident Helen Whyte moved to “indefinitely postpone” the question that asked, “Shall the town vote to support the installation of wind turbines on Little Equinox?”
She said the question was too vague, and the town should wait to act until a specific proposal is brought forward.
Select Board member Michael Kilburn said he agreed, and the motion carried unanimously.
Kilburn said the non-binding question was put on the ballot after the town received notice in the fall that a small-scale, temporary wind research project was being proposed for the mountain.
He said the board was not sure what position to take in the fall because of a 2006 Town Meeting vote that gave the town $150,000 to oppose a much larger project, which has yet to come to fruition. “We decided to put an article out there,” he said at Town Meeting, which lasted more than five hours, “to see if you all still felt the same way.”
The smaller, more recent project has been dismissed by the state’s Public Service Board, according to Kilburn.
The former project, proposed by Endless Energy Corp., a Maine-based wind farm development company, would have put five 390-foot turbines on the mountain and generated 30 million kilowatt-hours a year. The company’s owner, Harley Lee, said this fall that the project is still in the works.
The discussion started with resident Louise Riviaccio amending the question to read, “That the town shall vote to take a position in opposition to the installation of wind turbines on Little Equinox and to authorize the Select Board to spend not more than $150,000 from the allocated surplus to defend that position.”
Some, including Select Board Chairman Ivan Beattie, thought the amendment was illegal, as it made the question binding and added an appropriation from the floor. However, Moderator Michael Nawrath allowed it to stand.
Residents also briefly debated the pros and cons of wind power in their small town.
Earlier in the meeting, residents voted, 147-68, to adopt the 1 percent local option tax on lodging.
The same tax was defeated by one vote, 58-57, at a special town meeting in December 2007. Select Board member Carol Lattuga said the board looked to implement the tax to keep property taxes down. She said it’s projected to bring in $130,000 annually.
Inn owners urged residents to vote “no,” saying the tax would hurt business, especially in these economic times, by raising their taxes from nine to 10 percent. “I think we’re going to lose more in business than we’ll save in taxes,” said David Katz, a local motel owner.
Other residents said they did not think it would affect business.
The tax, which will become effective by July 1, is now one of three local option taxes in town. Manchester has had a 1 percent local option sales tax for a number of years and imposed a 1 percent local option tax on meals and alcohol at the December 2007 meeting.
Residents also approved a town budget of $5,886,158, appropriated $147,600 toward the Mark Skinner Public Library and chose to disband the Factory Point Cemetery Commission, putting it under the town.
On Tuesday, they will vote on two proposed bylaw changes that would allow larger buildings to be constructed in downtown Manchester.
John D. Waller
Staff Writer
2 March 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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