The Essex Reporter: May 16, 2019

Page 1

Local church plans service trip to Jamaica

Essex wins annual Burlington Invitational meet

Parishioners from the First Congregational Church will head to the Carribean island nation next month to build a play area for a preschool.

The Hornets bested more than 30 other Vermont high schools. Photos, results on page 10 & 12

Story on page 4

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Thursday, May 16, 2019

Girl scouts take on tampon tax

Selectboard considers revisions to tax sale policy By COLIN FLANDERS

By COLIN FLANDERS A local girl scout troop is hosting a menstrual supply drive this week as part of an advocacy project aimed at barriers that prevent women from accessing such health care products. Essex Girl Scout Troop 30755, comprised of six local juniors and sophomore girls, is hosting the drive on Thursday, May 16, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at local food shelf Aunt Dot’s Place. It’s part of a long-term badge project that’s being referred to as “Girltopia,” which asks scouts to envision what an ideal world for girls looks like and had them identify a project that would make a real-world impact on their community, said trooper leader Laura Juliano Chadwick. “The genesis of thinking about all of these issues ... started from a really personal point of what it’s like to be a teenage girl,” Chadwick said. Chadwick said her scouts began researching issues surrounding menstruation, particularly how the health care supplies can be cost-prohibitive for incarcerated women or those experiencing homelessness; scouts came across stories in which some women had to decide between menstruation products and other life necessities, the troop leader said. The scouts then dove head first into the world of advocacy, coming across a growing movement to exempt menstrual items from state sales taxes, commonly known as the tampon tax. To date, 10 U.S. states have passed

FILE PHOTO

Vermont young professionals who partook in a recent survey said they would prefer to live in single-family homes instead of apartment-style living but have struggled to find affordable homes in the area.

Survey says Essex desirability lags among young professionals By COLIN FLANDERS A recent survey of young professionals in the greater Burlington area found that Essex doesn’t crack their top-10 most desirable places to live in Vermont. Published earlier this year, the Burlington Young Professionals Survey asked 500 respondents – nearly all between the ages of 22 and 40 – where they would live if they could move anywhere in

Vermont. Though 60 people said they currently live in Essex, only 13 respondents chose the town or the village as the most desirable place to call home. The data suggests a disconnect between where young professionals want to live and where they actually do, raising questions about why their view of Essex may not match that of local officials, who tout their community as one of the best places to live in the state. See SURVEY, page 3

See SCOUTS, page 6

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After its first tax sale in six years recouped more than $300,000 in back taxes, the town of Essex plans to increase the threshold that triggers the home-selling process to avoid making it an annual occurrence. “We don’t really want to go to tax sale every year. It’s a large process, it’s time and resource consuming and it’s disruptive for the taxpayers,” finance director Sarah Macy told the selectboard last week. “We want to give everyone as much opportunity as possible to get current, to work with us before we go into this process.” Tax sales are auction-style transactions in which municipalities can sell a person’s home to recover owed property taxes. The selectboard adopted a new tax sale policy last year at the recommendation of Macy, and shortly after authorized the town’s first sale since 2012. Thirty-four delinquent accounts received demand letters from the town, and all but two of those properties either paid in full or hopped on a payment plan prior to the sale date last September. Of the two remaining properties, one redeemed – or paid the amount the property sold for plus interest – while the other account has until September 2019 until the sale becomes final. At the time of the tax sale’s initiation, the town was owed just short of $1 million in back taxes, or about eight percent of its general fund budget. A year later, the town is owed about $630,000, or under five percent of the See TAX SALE, page 4

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EssEx REpoRtER | THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019

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Vol. 18 No. 20


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