Gov. Peter Shumlin’s neighbor Jeremy Dodge has agreed to basic terms to buy back his family homestead from the state’s top official.
“It’s a deal in principle,” Dodge’s attorney, Brady Toensing, said. “But the specifics still need to be ironed out.”
Shumlin bought Dodge’s East Montpelier home in November 2012 for less than half its assessed value. But after the land deal went sour in May, and the impoverished high school dropout told the media he didn’t know what he was doing at the time of the sale, the governor agreed to sell the property back to Dodge and allowed him to remain on the property, while they forged a new deal.
Shumlin hired former Democratic Attorney General M. Jerome Diamond, who has a law firm in the state capital to negotiate a return of the property after controversy grew over the land deal.
“The agreement involves a repayment of not everything, but a repayment of what the governor actually put out of pocket that benefited Jerry Dodge,” Diamond said. “And that exact amount still has a little question so that exact amount is still not disclosable at this time … Ballpark, it will be somewhere near $30,000.”
Both sides are verifying exactly what was paid to Dodge as part of a deal that would have totaled $58,000, had Shumlin and Dodge followed through with the agreement in its entirety.
Diamond said the foundation of the deal allows Dodge to pay back the roughly $30,000 over a five-year period. Over the first four years, Dodge will only be liable for paying interest on the amount. In the fifth year, he will be responsible for paying the total amount, plus any additional interest.
“It will be the lowest interest allowed by the IRS,” Diamond said of the rates. But the parties had not contacted the IRS to establish what those rates are, and he did not specify which rates were applicable to this situation.
