By Mike Solimano “The 1 percent local option sales tax component of the options tax contributes approximately $400,000 to $500,000 to the annual General Fund budget. Who do you think is going to make that up if it is rescinded? You and me in our property taxes. As it is, we have an increase this…

Dear Editor, In response to last week’s letter to the editor from Diane Scappaticci Rosenblum regarding the local option sales tax vote to rescind. First I’d like to start off by saying I have a lot of respect and regard for Mrs. Rosenblum, so Diane, please don’t take this as an attack. While reading your…

Dear editor, More than 480,000 people in the United States will die this year from a tobacco-related disease. Each day, more than 1,000 kids become new, regular smokers; roughly one-third of them will die prematurely from a tobacco-related disease. On March 15, 2017, Kick Butts Day, thousands of young people and adults across the country…

Dear Editor, My name is Jim Haff. Around four months ago I was appointed to be the chair of the finance committee. I’ve worked hard with both principals at the middle and high schools and Richard Seaman, director of finance and operations for the Windsor Central Supervisory Union. The total proposed budget for FY18, $11,698,853,…

Dear editor, If the audacious come-from-behind win pulled off by the New England Patriots at this year’s Super Bowl has taught us anything, it is that no matter what, we should never stop believing in our abilities to succeed, even in the face of overwhelming odds. This win is one for the ages; and without…

Dear editor, Despite the various and differing views printed here on a weekly basis, our community has come a long way to come together in a short few years. In the early 2000s our town identified a problem in Killington. Simply put, our community was not united. We were lacking a sense of community in…

Dear editor, Raising the minimum wage is not a new idea. But we need to get serious now. There is a bill before the legislature that would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. There are many benefits to this. It would help Vermont workers. It would help families. It would help the…

Editors note: the following is an open letter to Ernie Herrman, CEO and president of TJMaxx Dear Mr. Herrman, I am writing to tell you that I have stopped shopping in TJMaxx stores since the election in November of 2016. That is when I became aware that you carry Ivanka accessories.  I’m sure that you…

Dear Editor, Is the Select Board crazy? The 1 percent local option sale tax component of the options tax contributes approximately $400,000 to $500,000 to the annual General Fund budget. Who do you think is going to make that up if it is rescinded? You and me in our property taxes. As it is, we…

Dear Editor, Gov. Phil Scott is attempting a “top-down” approach to check education spending because past legislative efforts have failed, and new initiatives are unlikely to win the approval of the Democrat-controlled Legislature. Democrats that are now expressing a newfound concern for local control seem to have forgotten that they championed the anti-school choice Act…

Dear Editor, I want to applaud Mike Solimano and his team for the terrific job that the Resort did with the World Cup. The combined efforts of the town and the resort prove that both are in this together. The positive impacts are sure to be real. Here is where we stand today: 1. Killington is…

Dear editor, I am not on board with designating $100,000 for support of Killington Resort’s efforts to bring back the World Cup. First of all, there are no guarantees that Killington will even be considered by the FIS (International Ski Federation, the World Cup governing body). The reason the World Cup came to Killington this…

Dear Editor, Martin Luther King, Jr., was a great man because he helped many people in need of his help. This happened when Rosa Parks got arrested because she did not give up her seat up on the bus to a white person. What MLK did was he organized a boycott where lots of people…

Dear editor, Well as you would expect, not a word was heard from the mountain with regard to the previous letters requesting the mountain to provide a senior taxpayers’ residential ski pass. I never thought it would be an easy task, but you never know. My philosophy, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.” I guess…

Dear Editor, In late 2015, I received an email informing me that Killington, my home mountain – the place where I invest my time and energy and where I’m raising my family to appreciate and love winter sports – was added to the 2016 Women’s World Cup schedule by FIS, the International Ski Federation. The…