To The Editor:
I’d rather pay less in property taxes over the coming decades if possible, and I’d bet we all would. Same goes for wanting an affordable, vital, and resilient Mad River Valley. Waitsfield voters can pass the proposed Local Option Tax (LOT) as a fiscally responsible way to diversify our tax base, raise significant revenue to pay for needed infrastructure, and avoid the painful choice between neglecting those investments or paying for them all ourselves.
As the 2025-26 Waitsfield Select Board’s newest member, I’ve received a crash course in municipal budgeting and deeply appreciate the intelligent way the town frugally manages its finances. Due to prior select board and staff work, through a combination of capital planning, procuring grants, funding reserves, reducing debt service, prudent investing, and managing expenses, Waitsfield stabilized its budget and kept municipal tax increases at or below the rate of inflation for three years running, with an effective municipal tax rate now in the lowest 20% statewide (50th of 255 communities). I’ve also gotten to know Waitsfield’s growing infrastructure challenges, which include: no town wastewater (yet), a 56-year-old town garage and 52-year-old fire station, the oldest operating Vermont covered bridge and slightly younger cousin, the Meadow Road bridge (damaged post-2023 flooding while the VT-100 substitute), and a road and culvert network suffering increasing impacts (thank you, hard-working road crew).
Smartly investing in and repairing our infrastructure requires new revenue. Fortunately, in 1999 the Legislature introduced a new tool. Thirty-eight municipalities now charge a LOT, including several nearby. By adding a 1% tax on purchases (everyday essentials like groceries, medicine, clothing, home heating remain exempt), these towns’ budgets are able to benefit from their local economies. In a community like Waitsfield, non-residents and tourists would contribute approximately 80% of the projected $600,000/year raised by a LOT. Without a LOT, Waitsfield residents would have to raise the equivalent funds from property taxes alone.
Waitsfield should seize this opportunity to help meet infrastructure challenges and keep our community’s tax burden as low as possible. Please vote yes on the proposed Local Option Tax (LOT) on March 3. Learn more at https://www.waitsfieldvt.gov/lot.
Dave Babbott-Klein
Waitsfield
