Gov. Peter Shumlin’s expanded 43.6-acre property is worth $672,500, according to the town of East Montpelier.
The property’s assessed value includes, among other items, the governor’s newly built 2,200-square-foot home that is appraised at $326,300. It also includes the 16-acre property that previously belonged to Jeremy Dodge. That previous acquisition exploded into public controversy last week. For more on the Shumlin-Dodge land issue, read here .
In the summer of 2012, Shumlin bought the roughly 27-acre property on Foster Road next to Dodge’s. He paid $35,000, which is less than a quarter of the assessed land value, now set at $157,900.
Shumlin went in on the property with a group of four friends, who also formed a limited liability company known as Jersey Ledges LLC. The governor told reporters last fall that the price for the acreage was divided equally between two limited liability companies. Jersey Ledges purchased the adjacent 155-acre parcel for $630,000; and his company, Foster Road LLC, purchased the 27 acres for $35,000.
One of the friends, Thomas Hagemann, has a long-running financial relationship with the governor and supported his unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor. In 2012, each of the four adjoining property owners gave Shumlin $1,000 in campaign donations.
Shumlin used Foster Road LLC to buy Dodge’s homestead for $58,000, according the settlement statement. At the time Shumlin acquired the property, it was assessed at $233,700. It was reassessed this spring at $140,000.
But the property’s price tag may change. Due to public scrutiny of the transaction, Shumlin said last Friday that he would go back to the negotiating table with Dodge, but would not void the transaction.
While Shumlin paid a combined $93,000 for the land on the two properties, they are appraised at roughly $300,000 without the new house and site improvements.
The governor’s taxes on the property would run roughly $13,500 at the current tax rate.
