Town, dam owners at odds over appraisal

[Dasn]

Concord Ma is looking to cut street lights but they also say if you want them on in your neighborhood then pay to keep them on>

You guys are right about the Unions sucking the town dry and we don’t need them here. Did you listen to that fiasco at 4 Reese Circle Friday?
CO detector sounding so it goes to a 1st alarm 2 engines and rescue truck along with ambulance all respond and 2 fire depts called to cover BF
Westminster and Rockingham summoned by the union Depty Cenate.

When all was saidf and done a motorcycle that ran in ther garage under the house was the4 cause of the 30 parts per million. God forbid Weston start
his HOG at BFFD or fart at the station house.

Col James Doolittle said it best "THERE ISW NOTHING THAT BEATS HARDER THASN THER HEART OF A VOLUNTEER"

PS I respect Joe very much

[Dasn]

Concord Ma is looking to cut street lights but they also say if you want them on in your neighborhood then pay to keep them on>

You guys are right about the Unions sucking the town dry and we don’t need them here. Did you listen to that fiasco at 4 Reese Circle Friday?
CO detector sounding so it goes to a 1st alarm 2 engines and rescue truck along with ambulance all respond and 2 fire depts called to cover BF
Westminster and Rockingham summoned by the union Depty Cenate.

When all was saidf and done a motorcycle that ran in ther garage under the house was the4 cause of the 30 parts per million. God forbid Weston start
his HOG at BFFD or fart at the station house.

Col James Doolittle said it best "THERE IS NOTHING THAT BEATS HARDER THAN THER HEART OF A VOLUNTEER"

I like Joe

[northstardust]

State to discuss appraisals for TransCanada dams
By The Associated Press • Wednesday, June 9, 2010

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt.(AP)— State Department of Taxes officials are meeting Wednesday with municipal officials from the Connecticut and Deerfield river valleys to discuss new proposed appraisal amounts for eight hydroelectric dams owned by TransCanada.

Consultant George Sansoucy is expected to be on hand to describe how his firm arrived at the appraisal amounts for Connecticut River dams in Waterford, Barnet, Hartford, Rockingham and Vernon and Deerfield River dams in Searsburg and Whitingham.

Sansoucy and Bill Johnson, of the state Department of Taxes, will meet with the municipal officials beginning at 1 p.m. at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs....

[Bf Law]

Did any Rock/Bf board memebers attend ?

[northstardust]

I accidentally found this, I did not see it in any more-local to BF papers. I do not know anything more.

[Bf Law]

David Gould went a local lister for Rock/BF he said he was impressed with their work.

I hope the town takes the assement as is by the state.

[Jamey Berrick]

BF Law will you be leading up the charge for the Taxpayers, when the Select board decides to grieve the appraisal of the Dam? What I mean is if everyone in Town feels they are over assessed on their property as well as having to pay some of the highest taxes in the state as the Select board feels the Dam is under assessed, are you going to represent us? Do we all revolt and stand up for what is right for our community? Do we say to the board; it is time to listen to the Voters? It seems to me the level funding of the budget is about ready to crest over the Vilas Bridge. Many people in our great community have seen the writing on the wall and voiced their concerns to no avail. Well folks as I’ve said before hold on to your wallets it’s gonna be a real bumpy ride. We all need to do our part with the understanding that a few selected people go to the meetings faithfully and voice their concerns. If we expect change we need to come out in force to these meetings, not just when an agenda item catches your eye. We need to fill each and every one of these meetings, standing room only. IT’S ONLY A FAILURE IF YOU ACCEPT AS ONE!

[Bf Law]

Jamey when are you coming home we can meet and discuss this in person, missed you this year at village meeting.

Little activity over the weekend on Forrest street and the person they took in lives on your street.

Lot of problems this past week in village, police kept very busy.

[Jim Mitchell]

Opinion

6/23/2010 10:00:00 AM Email this article • Print this article
Connecticut River Hydro Appraisals
It appears that the recently completed appraisals of the Connecticut River hydro dams are pleasing to both the towns of Barnet and Waterford, homes of the Comerford Dam and the Moore Dam. The appraisals were done by George Sansoucy of Lancaster, N.H. He raised the appraisal for TransCanada's property in Barnet by about $13 million from $33.73 million to $46.7 million for its share of the Comerford and McIndoes hydroelectric properties. The Comerford property was put at $41.59 million and McIndoes property was put at just under $5.1 million. He appraised TransCanada-owned property in Waterford at $31.6 million, up nearly $10 million from $21.14 million.

Rockingham residents please ask our selectboard to accept the fair market value done on our Bellows Falls Dam and ajust the entire tax rates for village and town.


We're happy for the results of the appraisals because they benefit area towns. The relationship of the hydro dams and the communities is crucial and is going well. It is almost certain that if these dams had not been built long ago, the Comerford in the 1930s and the Moore in the 1950s, there wouldn't be a snowball's chance in hell that they would be built today. The environmental extremists would see to that. Instead, the cooler and smarter heads of the past prevailed, and these installations have, since, benefited the towns they are in and the customers they serve.

We embrace the presence of that historic harnessing of these naturally occurring energy sources. They have an unlimited future as economic blessings in the towns along the river.

[Mike S]

Can anyone explain the change in the ratio between VT and NH payments for the dam? I thought there was a sizable change giving NH like %6 more of the value. Don’t forget that all the flood lands on the NH side as well as any other parts of the facility like transmission lines, footprint of dam on NH side or sub stations are part of that $126 mill “value”.
I think many of the comments critical of the Select Board are largely unfair. The Town paid for their own appraisal which came back at $126 million. They set the rate, TC fought it and they negotiated a deal. That deal put TC tax dollars in our coffers at the Towns FULL appraisal value. Who cares if the difference in value was how it was worded? The bottom line is the Select Board NEGOTIATED THE FULL VALUE FOR US. How much money did they save us by getting the best possible deal? The State funded appraisal was going to be the equivalent of a Supreme Court ruling so don’t expect TC to fight it. The best thing we could do at this point is to negotiate some sort of power value multiplier but that could be a gamble if the economy continues to struggle.
Does anyone really think the Select Board wanted to cut those positions? That must have been a hard decision as many of them were friends. I think both employees were great at there job and wonderful people as well. It’s harder to cut in a small Town but they had the courage to do it.
How can anyone question the decision to base FY 11’ on the $126 million appraisal? If they didn’t then it would have been an admission of a lower value. Maybe I’m off base here but it looks like the SB played this deal pretty well all things considered. We may have a shortfall due to this but at least we don’t owe TC millions like that Town in NH!

[Einstein]

flood lands not included on NH side just Vt side only , that % that is addressed is the DAM part that sits on the the NH side of the river

[d thomson]

a dam on the river is hardly natural jim, but is better source of power then most i think

[FOOLS]

People with common sense like you Spuds good old fashion values and work ethics are a dying breed as is Dennis

I will confess a few others that show common sense like Ben, Northstardust, Joe my god how right to the point and smart.

I don’t want to slight anyone but you guys would make a great choice for either boards.

[I no u 2]

Scott lost the election because of the smear campaign by the sneaky and dishonest Union maggot on that trumped up charge, compounding the electable issue was that real sleazy fat obese smelly reporter who got the report from that union maggot.

Then you have the very sneaky dishonest trustee closet queen of 25 years back stabbing everyone to just get reelected. Talk about a person with many screws loose a "Wanna Be cop"

As FAR AS SCOTT BEING A BIG MOUTH I WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE SCOTTS MOUTH AS THE VILLAGE PRESIDENT THAN THE PLACES RICCIOS MOUTH HAS BEEN.

[d thomson]

thats just wrong on all levels i no u s, im sure you have a few skeletons in your closet to, sounds like you just havent came out of the closet yet, its ok be brave like the rest of them :)
but stop being a racist pig it shows your not very intelegent, i may not agree with some of the ways in this world but i shut my mouth and dont put others down, stick to the politics and dont get personal

[ya right]

thats the jimmy way

[me jimmy]

I no u 2
FOOLS

[BF Resident]

Sorry EX officer of BF glad your not here now better police dept now.
Hey what ya going to do hen the come for you bad bad boys ?

Best of my knowledge JIMMY came out a long time ago.

He aint the issue guys and gals and was DD laying a little paper on town hall last week you know court papers....

[Richard Brown]

Why so slow with outcry over police?
Just change the name to Bellows Falls in this editorial and ask our sitting long term trustees why so many lawsuits leveled against the police dept got settled without the public even knowing anything about them? and please ask Ray to.

Published: July 5, 2010

I am a champion of effective police work, and the Rutland Police Department has shown itself to be capable of it. Unfortunately, some
members of the department have also shown themselves to be trigger-happy, and even sadistic.

The Herald’s top story for July 3 regards a lawsuit brought against the police for the gross mistreatment of a prisoner on Jan. 1. My only
question is, what took so long? When animals headed for slaughter were similarly treated in Vermont, there was a national outcry and the
offending facility was shut down. Why does the similar treatment of a chained, shackled and caged human being not warrant the same attention?

And recently a Herald photo documented an officer threatening a woman in a tree with a nonlethal weapon. The woman was exercising her right to protest the city’s action of removing the tree, was apparently neither dangerous nor delusional, and did not appear to be a threat to the
officers. Why would an officer point a weapon at her for any reason other than that he could?

The Rutland P.D. is in serious need of image repair. One place to start would be to crack down on cowboy behavior and to require remedial
training in negotiation and community relations skills for all officers.

Richard Brown

Rutland

[obey and be left alone]

yea yea yea cry cry cry, like i said before, and this is very simple, do what your supposed to do and go by the rules and you wont be put into this sitsuation, simple as that, i had a couple of my kids in trouble quite a bit, nothing major but they didnt seam to understand why and thought people were just messing with them , i told them it has got to do with the people you hang with and things you do, now they got away from all that and it is much better and they have came and said thanks you and that i was so right