Now is the time of year when area towns set their property tax rates and homeowners hold their collective breath, hoping that the hit on their wallets isn't too painful.
Property tax rates didn't rise all that much in Brattleboro, but there was concern over the news that Brattleboro's Grand List - the total value of all property in town - has declined by $1.4 million over the past year.
That number is significant because the more the Grand List dwindles, the more that the overall tax burden shifts to residential taxpayers.
Selectboard Chairman Dick DeGray said that even though the board has suppressed municipal expenses to counteract the lack of business and industrial taxes, the town is nearing the point at which it needs another stream of revenue not directly tied to property-tax payers.
DeGray is proposing a solution that he has proposed before without success - a 1-percent local-option sales tax that would be assessed on top of the state's current 6-percent sales tax.
Town Meeting representatives have resoundingly rejected this idea before, and it seems very unlikely the idea would be approved if it came up again.
But DeGray believes that residents should ask themselves this question: if Brattleboro doesn't want to institute a local option tax, what services are residents willing to give up to keep residential property taxes within reason?
We know that Brattleboro has one of highest education and municipal tax rates in the state. The taxes for education take up two-thirds of every residential tax bill in Brattleboro. Some homeowners are paying more in property taxes than they are on their mortgages. And as the number of vacant commercial buildings in town grows, so does the tax burden on homeowners.
* * *
The argument for a local-option tax usually hinges on Brattleboro's traditional role as a hub for shopping and for work in Windham County. Workers and shoppers come into town daily and use town services but, aside from the ever-increasing parking fees downtown, they don't pay for the cost of providing them.
It's easy to see the urgency to find new sources of revenue, but an additional sales tax would not be the answer.
Other towns in Vermont that have such a tax are a good distance away from New Hampshire, which has no sales tax. Brattleboro would be the first Vermont border town to enact a local-option sales tax.
The extra penny of every retail dollar that Brattleboro wants is negligible, but the perception that Brattleboro is nickel-and-dime-ing shoppers is a strong one.
Think we're exaggerating?
Just count the number of cars with Vermont plates in the parking lots of the big shopping centers in Keene, N.H. Many Brattleboro-area shoppers have voted with their feet and their wallets, and they are spending more of their money across the border. Even after they factor in the cost of gasoline, many find it cheaper to shop and eat in Keene rather than Brattleboro.
When it comes to big-ticket items, the automatic 6-percent savings consumers get by shopping in sales-tax-free New Hampshire adds up, which is why most mass-market retailers have built their stores on that side of the river. Nothing short of a repeal of the state sales tax and a retail building boom in Brattleboro will change that.
Brattleboro's 1-percent local option tax on meals and lodging enacted in 2006 generates about $100,000 a year of revenue for the town. Most tourists don't notice or care about an additional penny on the dollar, and the tax is similar to what New Hampshire charges.
But that certainly would not be the case with a local option sales tax. If you could save 7 cents on the dollar shopping for a item in New Hampshire instead of Brattleboro, what are the chances you would buy that product in Brattleboro?
Given the current fragile state of the downtown economy, particularly after the Brooks House fire, the last thing that retailers in Brattleboro need is for the town to give its customers another reason to drive to Keene.