Selectboard forms Property Tax Exemption Steering Committee to review donated-funds arrangement

The Selectboard voted unanimously to create a Property Tax Exemption Steering Committee to examine an informal arrangement in which donated funds were applied against the fire station bond. The committee appointments — Steve Jones, Courtney Doubleday, Lawrence O’Neil, Terry Ehling and Jeannette White, with Town Manager Karen Astley serving ex officio — were approved after discussion about the need for a draft agreement for budgetary certainty and requests that a Selectboard member serve on the panel.

Howard Fairman noted that a decrease in tax exemption could add an estimated $900,000 to $1,000,000 to the town's tax base and questioned how tax-exempt organizations' use of municipal services should be valued. Lyssa Papazian emphasized that continued public or nonprofit ownership mattered for building use; Selectboard member Rebecca "Bex" Slattery volunteered for the committee. The motion passed unanimously.