Dear Editor,
I’ve been skiing Killington for the past 35 years. I’ve been a regular season pass holder for over 20 years. I am a full time resident for the past 10 years. I am currently, for the first time, a mid-week season pass holder. Two weeks ago on a Friday, I had the occasion to take guests up to the Peak Lodge for lunch. I paid for their Gondola passes at $20 each, but much to my surprise, I was only given a 20 percent discount for both my wife and myself. First, the $20 for the 5 minute ride, borders on larceny. Second, I am a season pass holder and should be afforded the ride as part of my season pass!
If you can remember two years ago, the Resort changed the qualifications for a senior season pass and wound up charging about $200 more. The reason? Big brother has noticed that there are many regular skiers who are skiing the mountain who are of the senior age. My group will number over 30 people on a weekday morning. So much for the little old guy and gal!
So, here’s my plan, which I was going to do anyway.
I plan to lobby extremely hard about giving the mountain back the 1 percent option tax. We as residents will see no benefit whatsoever. The businesses on Killington Road will see some residual benefit, but as soon as that village goes up and the first phase of that 30,000 sq. ft. of retail, guess what will happen? Restaurants, pizza joints, sandwich shops, and groceries will be sold there, and the Killington Road businesses will suffer. And that’s just the first phase, there will be additional retail space to come. If the mountain needs the benefit of the retention of the 1 percent option tax to improve their summer business, let them go to their parent Powdr Corp. and get some of the $183 million they just got from the sale of Park City to Vail.
Oh, and by the way, I hear that the mountain is licking their chops at the overwhelming response to that $20 ride.
Richard Kropp, Killington
