KILLINGTON, Vt., March 2 (UPI) -- At their yearly town meeting, residents of Killington, Vt., a ski resort near the New Hampshire border, voted overwhelmingly to secede from the state.
The non-binding measure, in reality a protest against rising property taxes designed to get the attention of state lawmakers, was approved by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, the Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader reported Wednesday.
"This is a last-resort effort," Town Manager David Lewis said, explaining to residents the ways the town has fought the state property tax. "The only other thing is to accept the statewide property tax as a fair and equitable tax."
A study commissioned in 2004 concluded the fiscal impact of rejoining New Hampshire, which originally chartered the municipality before the Revolutionary War, would mean businesses and residents would save annual total of at least $7 million and up to $12 million per year in taxes.
