[B]ETHEL — The woman exiting the primary election polls was asked if she had a minute to contemplate and comment on the state’s most pressing issue.
She, alas, had too much time: “I just lost my job.”
Like many residents in this bellwether Vermont town — Bethel’s gubernatorial voting patterns have matched statewide results in 20 of the last 21 general elections — the woman has juggled part-time work for lack of enough full-time opportunities.
“Everything from property management to pet-sitting,” she said. “But it’s difficult to survive without driving a half hour or 45 minutes to get paid just enough to cover gas.”
She’s not alone in citing the economy as the state’s biggest challenge, a primary-day survey of local voters shows.
Kent Hower, a 30-year-old Ecolab territory manager, was among several respondents eager to reveal their annual property tax bill — in his case, $8,000 for a “modest home.”
“We get no trash pickup, we have overworked police — I could go on for days,” he said. “We want to raise our kids here, but there may come a point we can’t afford to, which is sad, because this is a great state.”
Hower wasn’t the only voter to commend the property while criticizing the taxes.
“I was born and raised here,” said Elizabeth Clark, a 32-year-old financial aid specialist at Vermont Technical College. “Being a younger person living in the state, it’s hard to get by.”
Growing older doesn’t make it any easier. One grandmother who chose not to be named said the tax bill on her family’s 260-acre homestead swallows half of her husband’s military retirement benefit.
“They need to find a way to lower taxes,” she said. “We have a lot of elderly people trying to pay.”
Wayne Olado, a 61-year-old builder, said he was working less for locals and more for second-home owners in such affluent nearby towns as Quechee and Woodstock.
“People just aren’t that confident,” Olado said. “They’ll spend what’s needed — mostly repair stuff that has to be done — but they’re not going to spend extra.”
One woman leaving the polls at Bethel Elementary and Whitcomb Junior-Senior High, where this year’s graduating class numbered just 20 students, blamed the tax crunch on the desire to maintain small schools.
“I worked in this building, but our taxes are way too high,” she said, declining to identify herself but willing to report she pays $6,000 annually on 2½ acres. “They need to consolidate.”
But other voters oppose the state’s Act 46 school governance consolidation effort.
“I think it works for some school districts but doesn’t for others,” one man said. “And I’m not sure where it’s going to stop. Moving away from local control can and will interfere with the quality of services.”
Many voters said economic concerns drew attention away from societal issues such as gun violence.
“Guns were made to hunt animals, not people,” 49-year-old community volunteer Steven Neron said. “You don’t need a machine gun for an animal.”
One woman questioned why, under state law, a 16-year-old Vermonter can’t vote, buy alcohol or tobacco or enlist in the military, but can buy a handgun.
Many want the political system to fix itself.
“They’ll do whatever they want to do,” one woman said with a shrug.
One man hoped state leaders would start by seeking common ground.
“They need to find a balance to fix the problems we’re facing,” he concluded. “I can’t see a black-and-white solution to any issue.”