WEST WINDSOR — Voters approved taxes on rooms, meals and alcohol, but rejected a broader local option sales tax from the floor during Tuesday’s Town Meeting.
The 1% taxes on meals, alcohol and rooms passed by voice vote after a debate. Under state law, the local option taxes on meals and alcohol sales, despite being two separate levies, must be adopted together.
The fourth proposed local option tax — a 1% sales tax on most other purchases — failed in a paper ballot vote, 93-57.
Voters shared varied views during a lively discussion leading up to the votes on three separate articles.
Jack Dugdale spoke in support of the local option rooms tax, which according to an estimate from the Selectboard, could raise more than $35,000 for the town.
“This one seems like a no-brainer to me, because if you live in town … you’re very unlikely to rent an Airbnb or a hotel room in town and would be very unlikely to pay this tax,” Dugdale said during the meeting at Story Memorial Hall. “So we’re basically getting visitors to pay for our stuff, which I kind of like.”
But Sarah Yates encouraged the town to be cautious about approving additional taxes.
“We are not Woodstock. We are not Stowe,” she said, reading from an online post she had submitted to Front Porch Forum, where town news is exchanged. “Our tourism is not at the level of these other towns.”
Woodstock and Hartford are the only other Upper Valley towns with local option taxes. On Tuesday, Pomfret voted by ballot on a local option taxes for rooms, meals and alcohol and sales, which were included in one article on the town warning.
Yates also touched on the additional 1% sales tax, which she noted would apply to online purchases and those made from area businesses.
It was the broader sales tax that inspired the most opposition.
Carolyn Sailer, who owns a catering company, said the additional tax would cost her an additional $500 a year.
“We’re already paying 6%,” she said about the state tax.
Vermont has a statewide 6% sales tax, a 9% meals tax, 10% alcohol tax and a 9% rooms tax.
The new taxes voters approved Tuesday at Town Meeting raise those rates in West Windsor to 10% on meals, 11% on alcohol and 10% on rooms.
The state will take 25% of the money raised by the new taxes, while the town will put the remainder toward West Windsor expenses, including infrastructure and equipment.
The Selectboard had proposed the taxes in order to lessen the burden of the town’s rising expenses on property taxpayers, Selectboard Chairman Mark Higgins said.
After the local option tax votes, attendees made quick work of the rest of the warning. Voters approved a $779,000 municipal operating budget, with $470,000 to be raised by taxes by voice vote.
They also approved the $1.2 million highway budget, with $958,000 raised by taxes and a five-year municipal tax exemption for the West Windsor Fire Department.
Town Meeting began with a dedication to the late Matt Birmingham, who served as town moderator for 34 years and died at age 77 on Jan. 15. In addition to serving as moderator, Birmingham was also a library trustee, and a soccer, hockey and lacrosse coach. State Rep. Elizabeth Burrows, a West Windsor resident, read a House resolution in Birmingham’s honor.
Voters elected Shelley Seward to a one-year term as town moderator at the start of Town Meeting. Seward began the meeting by acknowledging “the sense of loss we’re all feeling,” she said. “It’s a huge hole to have to fill.”
“He’d be honored by how many people are here today,” Seward said as she looked out at the crowd from her place in front of the stage.
Voters reelected Mark Harley to a three-year term on the Selectboard from the floor.
Roughly 15%, or 162, of the town’s 1,084 registered voters came to Town Meeting, zoning administrator Deb Shearer said.
