Wildlife corridor
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Elusive bobcat tracks in Champlain Valley
Club takes travelers to every Vermont town
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October 12, 2023
Charlotte residents push for rental regs
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
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Evening stroll
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Some Charlotte residents have expressed concern over short-term rentals — like those found on Airbnb and VRBO — and are urging the selectboard to regulate them. After learning that a nearby house was operating as an Airbnb rental with no permanent owner living there, several neighbors brought their concerns to both the selectboard and planning commission. They say issues arose at the location one weekend when over a dozen cars were parked at the house, which spilled over to the property next door, as well as complaints over “disruptive” traffic on the private road. “In effect, it has become a purely commercial enterprise in a residential neighborhood. We don’t know how extensive a practice this has become in our town, but it is very disconcerting to those of us who are permanent residents,” resident and former Charlotte House representative, Mike Yantachka wrote in a letter to the selectboard signed by four of his neighSee RENTALS on page 10
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Paddleboarders enjoy one of those recent warm autumn days on Lake Champlain.
Hinesburg eyes 7 percent municipal tax rate hike COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Hinesburg residents should expect at least a 7 percent municipal tax rate increase in the upcoming budget year, town manager Todd Odit said at last week’s selectboard meeting. Odit said the town’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which goes into effect next July 1, faces a “very similar situation as last year,” with declining non-tax revenues amid an
effort to keep costs down, although the proposed budget’s tax increase would more than double last fiscal year’s 3.6 percent tax increase. Over the past several years, the town’s amount raised in taxes, Odit said, has been “artificially low and does not actually reflect the cost of running the town.” He told the selectboard that what the town has been budgeting and what the taxpayers have been paying “doesn’t cover the true cost of the town’s operations.” At
this point, he said, the budget is estimated to lead to a nearly 7.8 percent increase in the amount raised by property taxes. The tax increase is looming despite the town using $150,000 in its fund balance and $55,000 left over from a highway garage bond as revenue, Odit said. “You’re probably looking at a double digit increase in the amount of raising taxes if we had to back out that use of $150,000 in fund balance,” he said. Planned capital purchases, the addition
of a fourth employee to the highway department and increasing health insurance premiums are contributing to the growing financial pressure facing the town. Odit said the town needs to purchase a fire truck and two new highway trucks, requiring $155,000 more in tax revenue than is available in the current fiscal year. A similar increase is needed to fund that fourth See TAX RATE on page 10