04/06/2008
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Staff photo by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
PROPANE NO QUICK FIX
AUGUSTA Penny saved is a stamp forever Cost to mail regular letter rises 1 cent on Monday
CENTRAL MAINE Area residents' scrap metal rising to top of heap
Dunn celebrates 35 years as fire chief
Maranacook set for budget tests
FARMINGDALE NEVER FORGET
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Rankin sparks Black Bears
Morang stymies Bulldogs in only 2nd varsity start
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
Auctioneer sues woman over $300,000 Internet purchase
Prison time awaits
Waterville writer wins this year's Young Lions Fiction Award
Rising prices for scrap metal attract sellers to local facility
Colby seniors celebrate end of classes
JUDGES CHOOSE YOUTH OF YEAR Gary Fearon a 17-year-old member of Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club, a satellite unit of Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club
Biathlon might skip out on Fort Kent
HUSKIES COLLECT 1ST WIN
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
First of a three-part series.
BY KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The capital city of Vermont, tiny Montpelier, is like Augusta in at least as many ways as it is different.
Both have rivers flowing through the heart of the city.
Both are cities surrounded by woods, bodies of water and mountains providing easy access to recreational pursuits like hiking, boating and hunting.
They're both the service centers for their respective regions -- the places where people from several area surrounding small towns go to shop, dine, work, and conduct business.
Their residents share similar concerns about their hometowns -- worries about taxes and potholes and kids and development encroaching on places they love.
State government brings both benefits and burdens to bear on the two communities.
Neither city, locals in both say, would be what they are today if it weren't for the state capitals' prominent presence in both.
But a significant difference between the two northern New England capitals reveals itself on their respective downtown streets.
Montpelier's downtown sidewalks have things on them that are a much more rare sight in downtown Augusta: People. Dozens of them. Shopping. Chatting. Walking. Eating. Drinking.
This city of 8,000 residents swells to a daytime population of around 20,000.
Augusta's daytime population increases dramatically, too, from about 18,000 to 35,000, an influx that nearly doubles the city's population, according to U.S. Census data.
But in contrast to Montpelier, where the influx of commuters is obvious on city streets, most of that influx of people into Augusta never reaches the downtown, especially the thousands of state workers who commute to work in Augusta.
A prime difference -- other than the obvious geography that one's in Maine and other in Vermont -- may be where the state capitals of each are located relative to their downtowns.
The Vermont Statehouse is in the city's downtown, the most prominent building, by far, in a city of historic brick buildings filled with boutique shops and restaurants.
The Maine Statehouse, meanwhile, is separated from Augusta's downtown -- by distance, but also by perception.
"I walk from my office (also downtown) to the Statehouse whenever I need to do something there -- it's a few blocks away -- and so do most people here," said Montpelier City Manager William Fraser, a Bath, Maine, native.
"By and large, people love being the state capital. It's a real source of identity. You walk down the street and the state supreme court judge walks by and says hi. All of that creates some vibrancy. In Augusta, the downtown is not as connected."
LOCATION, LOCATION
In Augusta, the Statehouse is off to the side of the downtown -- about seven-tenths of a mile up a fairly steep hill and across traffic-laden Western Avenue.
The Vermont Statehouse is part of the downtown itself, on State Street, a short distance from the intersection with the perpendicular Main Street.
"Would we be as vibrant a downtown without the capitol?" said Suzanne Hechmer, executive director of the Montpelier Downtown Community Association. "I don't think so. I can't imagine Montpelier without the capitol."
Augusta Mayor Roger Katz said the city's downtown has thousands of people working in it during the day, but not enough people who live there and not enough restaurants, pubs, and performing arts spaces to make it a vibrant place. The city is doing well in many ways, he said, but is failing to bring life to its downtown, especially at night.
"We're proud to be Maine's capital," Katz said. "We have the presence of the University of Maine at Augusta. We're a center for retail. A center for medical care. We've got the wonderful new Cony High School. We've got the new Alfond Cancer Center.... We're a community who volunteers -- as a volunteer community, we're really second to none.
"Yet a lot of us would agree, our real potential is missing. Retail has moved to our outskirts. Yes, that's brought business, jobs, and it has added to our tax base. But it came at a price, as many of our restaurants and businesses left our downtown area. We've lost our retail presence to the outlying malls. We're not unique in that."
IDEAS FOR AUGUSTA
Katz recently unveiled a plan he hopes will revitalize the city's riverfront downtown and spur private investment by building confidence the city is serious about making its downtown more vibrant. And no, the ideas of Katz do not involve jacking up the Maine Statehouse, putting it on wheels, and moving into the city's downtown.
Instead, he wants the city, in partnership with the private sector, to take several steps to improve its downtown, including: Decorating Memorial Bridge with LED lights to give the city a dramatic, colorful skyline; greatly increasing the number and quality of signs directing visitors in other parts of the city to its downtown riverfront; and installing the infrastructure for the city to offer free, high-speed wireless Internet access throughout its downtown.
Of course more went into shaping Montpelier than the decision, in 1805, to choose the city as the permanent home of Vermont state government.
Some of it is geography.
ON THE RIVER
Like many New England communities, such as Augusta, Montpelier is where it is because it developed along a river, in this case the Winooski.
The 10.3-square-mile city is split by the Winooski and surrounded by hills. There isn't any sprawl because there just isn't room.
"Because of our geography, by its very nature it kind of contained the commercial development," Fraser, Montpelier city manager, said. "All our schools are walkable, they're all in or around downtown. We have theaters, galleries... We're the regional center of culture. There's no Augusta Civic Center perched on the outskirts of town. Augusta kind of spreads out. The downtown strip doesn't seem connected to other parts of town. Cony High School is not connected to the town."
Augusta's downtown can be hard for nonlocals to find, says Patrick Quigg, owner of the Riverfront Barbecue and Grille, one of the few downtown Augusta restaurants.
''We know where The Marketplace is -- you can't miss it, it's right on the highway," Quigg said at a recent Augusta City Council meeting, while speaking in favor of Katz's proposals to revive the downtown. "We know where Augusta Crossing is -- we can't miss it."
BURDENS AND BENEFITS
In both cities, being the center of state government brings burdens with its benefits.
While it brings thousands of state workers, legislators, lobbyists, nonprofit organizations, and others to Montpelier to conduct state government-related business, those visitors also bring an increased demand for services.
"It's our biggest asset and our biggest liability," Fraser said. "Why else would Montpelier or Augusta be on every map in the world? We have built-in markets. There is always going to be a stable workforce. And that workforce is going to be shopping in our stores, eating in our restaurants. The downside is it demands a lot of our services."
State workers and others drawn to the Statehouse drive on local streets that must be maintained. They get in accidents that require a police, fire, or ambulance response. They take up parking spaces. They create trash that needs to be disposed of.
Most of those services are funded in large part by Montpelier residents, businesses and other property owners, through their property taxes.
That's because state and federal government property is exempt from property taxes.
The state does make a yearly payment to Montpelier through its Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, program. Fraser said Montpelier expects to get about $645,000 from the state this coming year. Included in that total is $184,000 the city gets specifically for being the capital city, while the rest comes through the PILOT program, which also distributes funds to all Vermont municipalities with state buildings in them.
TAXING PROBLEM
But if the state were a business and its property not tax-exempt, its share of municipal taxes would annually total about $1.2 million, Fraser said. He estimates if state buildings were included in the city's total assessed valuation and taxed accordingly, the city's tax rate would be lower by $1 per $1,000 of property value for all taxpayers.
As it stands, most Montpelier officials acknowledge their city has a relatively high tax rate -- often among the highest in the state.
"Our taxes are too high," said two-term current Mayor Mary Hooper. "I don't want it to be an expensive place where folks can't afford to live. In Vermont, the only source of revenue (for towns) is the property tax. We need a diversity of revenue sources. We're not there yet."
Andrew Brewer owns a 103-year-old downtown building containing, among other businesses, his own Onion River Sports sporting goods shop, but lives just outside the city in neighboring Berlin.
"It makes a significant difference in my property taxes," Brewer said of living outside of Montpelier. "I own this (downtown business) building, so I'm very familiar with property taxes. State government is a burden because the state doesn't pay taxes on its property."
CAPITAL COMMERCE
Income-wise, the average Montpelier resident would appear to be able to afford their property-tax burden easier than an average resident in Augusta can deal with theirs.
The median household income in Montpelier was $37,513, compared to a $29,921 median household income in Augusta, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. In Augusta, the dual benefit and burden issues of playing host to the state capital are similar.
In Maine, however, the state does not make payments in lieu of property taxes on its numerous buildings located in Augusta.
The main benefits for the city being the capital are the state workers who come here to work and spend some of their money while in Augusta.
Katz said the city needs to start a dialogue to improve relations with the state. And he said Augusta should work to attract more state workers to live in the city rather than commute from elsewhere.
He noted that with the anticipated pending retirement over the next several years of state workers from the baby boom generation, the state will need to attract new state workers.
So the state and the city have an interest in working together to make sure Augusta is an attractive place to live for potential new state workers.
The Kennebec River, especially the section flowing through the city's downtown, should be more of a calling-card for the city, Katz said. That's why he believes it should be a focus for efforts to draw new life to the city.
"It's the river," Katz said. "And it's also our downtown. A downtown which has history and character in its buildings. This is our greatest asset, if we're to really meet our potential as a great place to live."
Keith Edwards -- 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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