T a x i n g O u e s t i o n s

O n T u e s d a y ' s
B a l l o t
BURLINGFON
t
HREE DAYS BEFORE
Queen City voters go tothe
polls todecide how local ~LX
dollars should be collected and
spent, City Hall will host a con-
ICrencesponsored by the M,~ur's
office and the Union of Radical
Rllitical Economists (URPE) to
consider some of these same
qu e s t i o n s .
URJ 'E, founded in 1968 and
composed mostly of academics,
works toward creating, accord-
i n g t o its l i t e ra t u re , " a co n t i n u -
i n g cri t i qu e o f t he ca pi t a l i s t
s y s t e m , t he construction o f PI1.)-
gressive social polic~~and the
creation of socialist alternatives."
The title of the conference will
be'J \lternative Solutions toLocal
Problems."
And on Saturday, while the
radical political scientists, econ-
ornists and cit}' planners discuss
such solutions, Burlington's VJr-
ious political camps will be mak-
i n g pi t che s fo r a n d a g a i n s t o n e
o f t he m i n pa rt i cu l a r, i n earn-
paigns going door to door and
o v e r t he telephone ; U1Uairwaves.
Next Tuesday voters will gct
t he i r firstcha n ce t o express t he i r
opinion of Mayor Sanders' pro-
posed three percent gross reo
ceipts t a x o n restaurants a n d
hotels that serve meals. '111CY
wi l l a l s o d e ci d e o n m o re tradi-
iional pro pe rt y t a x i n cre a s e s to
fund pal' raises fix the police
and capital improvements tor the
Street Department,
flue&Iion 1: T he S_
St re e t De pa rt m e n t o ffi ci a l s
contend that their budget needs
have been ignored for the past
e l e v e n y e a rs , a n d t ha t cit)' s t re e t
repairs are badly overdue as a
result. TI,e Street Department
is seeking a 32 cent property
tax increase as a "stopgap" meas-
ure until new funds GUl be found,
-11,emoncy would be used for
ca pi t a l i m pro v e m e n t s - s u ch a s
purchasing street sweepers and
sidewalk plows, and repaving
streets, curbs, and sidewalks.
Street Department Superinten-
dent james Ogden says e..en"this
5713,000 is aminimum to stop
us from spending great gobs
l a t e r"
Mayor Sanders agrees with
Ogden that a 32 cent tax will
only scratch the surface of the
Street Department's long-neg-
lected needs. However, Sanders
isn't supporting the tax.
111e Mayor argues that the
Street Department's "enormous
financial problems" need to be
Iilnded through alternative sourc-
es like his gross reccipts tax
rather than "hilling up the prop-
e ::rt yo wn e rs " o n ce ::a g a i n .
Ogden, on the other hand,
says a tax is n e e d e d n o w a s a
"cushion" while new methods
of ti.lI1ding.are developed.
flIu$tUm Z: T he Cop.
Despite his repeated con-
demnation of higher property
~es, Mayor S,mders supporlS
the Police Department's pro-
POsed 7 cent property tax in-
crease.
flue&Iion 3: T he s..........
AI,." " " " "
Opponents of the gross receipts lax.
Above, at a Radisson Ballroom press conference: James Gatti of the UVM business school; Jim
Gilson, School Board president and restaurant owner; Pat Burns, BRHApresident and owner
of three restaurants; and Republican state representative Ted Riehle.
Below: Bernie W,*" the CaJijOrnia political consultant hired to orcbestrate a campaign porln:rying
the lax referendum as mysterious and sinister, displays his displeasure at being photographed
Questions and conflicting an-
swers have been flying around
.town for the past two weeks on
the gross receipts tax. -11,eitem
on the ballot asks, "Shall the vot-
ers of the Cityof Burlington urge
the City Council to pass in a
timely fashion an ordinance im-
posing agross receipts tax upon'
persons engaged in the hotel, res-
taurant and bar business?" 'The
Burlington Restaurant and Hotel
Association iscampaigning hard
for a no vote on the question,
which is the first test of Sanders'
alternative tax ideas.
While the Mayor has admit-
ted that "it is not aperfect tax,"
he maintains it is his only alter-
native allowed under the city
charter to the property tax - a
tax that "does not necessarily
reflect the wealth aperson has."
The measure's opponenlS claim
it discriminates unfuirly against
one particular industry.
Figtaresbeing presented to the
public by the BRHA and the
Mayor'sofficedon't match. BRHA
President l'at- Bums accuses San-
ders of overestimating the pos-
sible revenues from the tax by
neglecting to consider that ma-
tels and take-out restaurants will
not have to pay it. But Assistant
CityAttorney john J 'rdllCO, aclose
advisor to Saiu!ers, main~ns that
his l'CIeJ 1ueestimate of $875,000
to 5I million is "right on the
money." Bums says the city can
only hope for 5500,000 "of
which 5560,000 has already
been promised to the streets and
po l i ce ."
As part of its anti-tax media
blitz, the BRHA is fighting one
Bernie with another The A1;sO-
ciation has hired Bernie Walp, a
political consultant from Cali-
fornia, to orchestrate a 15-day
campaign under the slogan, "Stop
the Unknown food and Bever-
ageTax." A Walp campaign flyer
asks, "Have you ever heard of
anything SO ridiculous in your
life?...They are asking us to vote
on a new tax before any of the
details have been worked OUl."
(fur more on Walp see related
article, p. 9.)
Also hired was Dr james E
Gatti, an economist from the
Urtiversity of Wrrnont's School
of Business Administration. Gatti
notes in a 13 page repon pre-
pared for the BRHA that an
increase in re~1 sales taxes in
173American cities caused an
average drop of sLxpercent in
retail sales. While he had no fig-
ures on cities with rooms and
meals taxes, he claims that Bur-
lington restauranlS miglll suffer
similar losses.
Bums says the BRHA mter
campaign, which also includes
aphone calling drive, will cost
at least 55,000.
- Peter Fnryne, Diana Greene
and Eric Sonmsen
Voters rejected a similar 12
ce n t increase t o r t he co ps i n
March byover 400 votes, At that
time Sanders opposed the tax
hike on the principle of oppos-
ing "splinter" taxes in general
(taxes earmarked for a specific
dep-artment rather than the city's
general fund).
" I re a l i ze t he re a re s o m e i n -
co n s i s t e n ci e s he re ," t he Ma y o r
said Wednesday. But he added
that "in the long run" the tax
hike, which would raise about
S150,000 for police salary in-
creases, would be "good eco-
nomics" for the city.
If the tax passes, starting sal-
aries for Burlington police offic-
ers would jump from 5229 to
5269 per week, Police Chief Rich-
ard Beaulieu claims that upping
wages to that level would make
salaries "more C'Ompetitive"with
police departrnenlS in SUlTOund-
ing areas.
fur example, in Essex police
stan at 5250 per week. And next
month Wmooski police officers
will receive the benefits of a
recently approved pay r:tise that
wi II boost smrting salaries to
5242 per week. Both Essex and
Winooski olrer dental insurance
as a fringe benefit; Burlington
does not.
Rllice Commission Chainnan
Antortio Rlmerleau saysthat t.'\tIl
an additional '40 for the men
isn't enough when,one considers
the fuCl that Burlington cops
cover "the state's toughest beat"
WE VERMONT VANGUARD