Which 251

There are 251 Towns in Vermont. It has become very clear to me today that it depends on the town you live in, how sensitive the Town Fathers are. My research came from my year long quest for truth about tax lien sales, due process, 5th and 14th amendments & Vermont's mysterious statewide locally administered property tax
My quest has culminated in complete and total surrender.
In doing so I am freeing myself to release publicly correspondence I have had with the mostly male Town fathers.
But first I want to prime you. If you find this all too tedious, go back to bedazzled.
I found this paper online by a wonderful historian and he explains the property taxation
during the Romans times up to present day. This is a link and I found it helped me understand what they did to us.
http://www.law.indiana.edu/ilj/volumes/v75/no3/alexander.pdf
Fair warning to Vermont property owners:
You may be living in a town, where in as little as 6 months late paying your property taxes, the town can sell the tax lien, and your bank could pay the tax lien and foreclose. You will be subjected to paying the town's lawyer fees to take your property, and advertising, fees, penalties and up to 8%  of the tax goes to the tax collector.
The town does not use income sensitivity and can pick and choose what to sell.
The article above does talk about due process and the fact that people can challenge
local towns when due process and fairness are not followed.
But the reality, girl, is that the town does not have to tell you. Your name is second on the deed, right?
The town does not have to give you due process.
So I decided to avoid paying the limitless costs of court battle.
It would be the only way to challenge the final decision by the town fathers.
There is no board or centralized State office who hears appeals about town fathers.
The citizen must file suit. With an attorney, that costs 10k and up. Without an attorney,
doom. Either way a potential to aggravate my MS.
Town wins. Girl loses.
Now I will post over the next span of time, an argument that did not work in this town.
In fact it is weird that the town felt such hardship in 2009, that they would have to sell our fourth generation farm after being 9 months late. This action forced us to suffer irreversibly, completely.
A violation of our trust that people can be kinder than necessary when they see someone suffering.
The article above points to "Tax Farmers" of Roman times. I can envision them raking someone for money.
Also he describes the "Tax Ferrets" of the nineteenth century and the tax collection policies of the 1930 depression.
So if you opt to read the documents I will publish, you may formulate your own opinions.

This is the letter we sent to the town. I edited out some of it but kept the core.
The following is our argument outline of why we believe we should be granted tax abatement.


This explains what we want abated. It states the core of our argument. After the outline will appear comments we believe have merit.
1. Request for Abatement of all Property taxes we paid to the town of Monkton in the year 2009 and also any Fees, Penalties, Interest, town lawyer’s costs and costs we incurred related to Monkton tax including but not limited to:
a. Delinquent 2008 VT & Local Property Taxes, interest, fees, etc: $8,473.68 which was paid after town threatened sale.

b. VT & Local Property Taxes 2009: $4121.83

c. Total of $ 12,595.51.


our property taxes owed in 2009 was 28 percent of our household income.

We understand there is income sensitivity with VT property taxes.



We have faced extraordinary circumstances that make it difficult for us to meet our tax obligations.

Mary was never notified by the tax collector of her being delinquent, nor of her being threatened by a tax sale. Mary wrote the town lawyer and the Monkton select board to get information about what would have been sold and ask how the town attempted to inform her about the tax sale, copy of the ad that Fred and Mary paid for but never saw.

She has not received any of this information.

We have a history of paying our taxes on time and regularly since

becoming owners in 1993.

The farm has been in this family paying taxes in Monkton for over a hundred years.

We have suffered losses, extraordinary challenges, costs, health issues and stress.

Please consider our requests.



Additional comments which we believe are necessary to express:

We feel that we were subjected to a tax sale in a discriminatory way.

We were singled out and treated differently from almost every other tax payer who has been in our position of delinquency of less than 1 year.

One selectman said the town attorney decided which properties would be sold based on value. This is contrary to the policy which states any property owing $250 or greater. There are concerning notations in the select board minutes leading up to the sale like one asking how many delinquent properties have mortgages? Why is that relevant?

The timeline for the Monkton town officials participating and conducting the tax sale, and events leading up to the tax sale are suspicious. Per the minutes, The Conservation committee discussed tax sales in July with a selectman.

John Phillips did send Mary the list of delinquent properties and the policy.

It was impossible to figure out why there was 58 properties late and only 4 were to be sold. It is unclear in the minutes if any property was sold. It is unclear when tax sales have been held since the new tax sale policy in 2004. There have been many properties listed for multiple years late. How can that be if we were 9 months late and threatened with a tax sale?

What was offered in the way of making payments? Offer of abatement per Vermont law? Ultimately, What was the Town of Monkton going to sell?

Comments from Mary alone: I am a landowner and successful taxpayer on this farm since 1993 or so. I have paid my dues so to speak. I have been verbally attacked in the town office by a town official. I do not feel comfortable there. Some will say it was Fred’s responsibility to tell me the Town was selling my property so the bank would foreclose and then they could be rid of me. I thought that too for a minute. That is all.

I deserved to be notified myself, Me, Mary Gerdt, by the Town of Monkton tax collector who decided along with a select board and a lawyer to take my property. The responsibility to notify a landowner must rest with the town.

This relates to the law of real property.

I know the law of land ownership quite well and I know a signature is required from me to take my property and sell it. Even if I am a woman, a wife. No town official approached me or had a sheriff serve me or nail a note on my door. The conservation committee knew about the sale and yet Mary did not know about the sale. This coincided with land deals on abutting property that we both were not notified about. Mary read the minutes but could not tell that her property was up for sale.

It did not make sense. Mary did a spreadsheet of all the properties sold. It does not make sense. Mary has emails to and from the select board and town attorney. Mary still has not seen an accounting of what the tax collector did to notify her/them.

So we both write to the Monkton Board of Civil Authority with pleading for tax abatement and hopefully leaving you with questions to ponder.

We believe the tax sale policy should be revisited to include income sensitivity, consideration of hardships and applied consistently, ethically and fairly.

............more later.mary gerdt

Chapter Two

So I sat down to proceed. My mind has been searching for the right words. Like veins of thoughts. They go this way and that, meandering along and merging sometimes or dividing from other thoughts.
I reviewed all the emails in the folder I labelled
Monkton Scandal. I suppose to label it what is was. After I got over being stunned (see posts on sprachlos), and angry,
I started just thinking.
Science was always my favorite route.
Establish the known.
Identify what is not known.
Search for truth, a formula, an explanation, justification.
Then look for validation, replication with experimentation.
I thought for sure the paper would send me a copy of the ad. It had my name in it. I thought they might think, wow, 9 months late is a little soon to be selling the girl's place? They gave me a run around or something. I gave that one up early on.
Back to truth searching.
I got the town reports and began a spreadsheet of all the property liens sold by the town of Monkton since  the new policy in 2004. It was strange. Only 2 sales had been recorded. Many were up to 5 years late and were not even making payments.

I tried to put the spreadsheet here but will work on that one later. Suffice it to say for now, in about 5 years 2 sales occured:
one for $1455 and one for $163.

And this year I compiled these snippets of the minutes I could access:

Snips of Monkton,VT Selectboard Town Meetings.



March 9, 2009,

First meeting of new 5 member town select board.





“T. Cunningham asked about tax sales of properties, as mentioned at the Town Meeting on 3/3/09 by Delinquent Tax Collector Roderick Burritt. T. Cunningham suggested a lien be placed on any subject property immediately. J. Phillips mentioned that a lien may spur action by the homeowner. The Board discussed this issue in some detail. P. Norris mentioned title searches being made by lawyers. T. Cunningham asked if properties in duress have mortgages on them. No action taken “



March 23, 2009





“g- Delinquent taxes: there is a supra lien on all delinquent taxes by the Town of Monkton. Therefore, it is not necessary to file a lien the land records. The Delinquent Tax policy should be reviewed and updated. Peter Norris will review and make proposed changes to present to the board for the next meeting. “





April 13, 2009



“Delinquent Taxes are still about $88,000. Rod Burritt has indicated that he would like to come to the Select Board to see about starting Tax Sale proceedings. “



June 8, 2009



“Informal Report on ANAC Status. Stephen Pilcher attended a meeting of the Agricultural and Natural Areas Committee and gave an informal report of their progress. The ANAC committee has two ongoing projects, one which has completed the application process and one which is waiting the results of the state budgeting process. Both projects are being coordinated by the Vermont Land Trust and seem very beneficial to the Town of Monkton. “



Mary’s notes.[I believe I saw the minutes where Stephen Pilcher attended ANAC committee and was talking about tax sales. Those minutes are no longer posted and Stephen Pilcher’s name does not appear in the ANA C meeting minutes.]





June 22, 2009



“Delinquent Taxes. The Town of Monkton continues to have a large amount of delinquent taxes due. The Town is currently owed $76,000 in delinquent taxes. Rod Burritt, the Delinquent Tax Collector, will start the process of putting delinquent properties up for tax sale starting July 1st. “





September 14, 2009



“

• Tax Sale - This will take place on October 13, 2009.



October 12, 2009



“

• Agent to Deed Real Estate Appointment - Motion to nominate L. Stephen Pilcher as Agent to Deed Real Estate was made by Peter Norris and seconded by Anne Layn. This motion was unanimously approved “



October 26, 2009



“

Review of Tax Sale

The Town of Monkton conducted a tax sale on October 13. Four parcels were sold and each was sold for more than the amount of delinquent taxes, interest, fee and cost. The Town of Monkton will hold the excess amounts in four separate accounts for the benefit of the property owner. “





November 9, 2009



“Review Minutes of October 12th and October 26th Select Board Meetings. Review of minutes postponed until next Select Board meeting. “



November 26, 2009



“Review Minutes of October 12th , October 26th , and November 9th Select Board Meetings.

Minutes of previous Select Board meetings are always available in Town Hall. They are posted

at the Select Board desk and also filed by the Town Clerk. Motion to approve October 12th

minutes moved by Stephen Pilcher, seconded by Peter Norris. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion to approve October 26th minutes moved by Terry Cunningham, seconded by Stephen

Pilcher. Motion passed unanimously. Some discussion of the curb cut process mentioned in the

minutes. Stephen Pilcher to write an email to Mike Bayer about the issue. Motion to approve

November 9th minutes moved by Stephen Pilcher, seconded by Terry Cunningham. Motion

passed unanimously.”



January 11, 2010



“Review of Delinquent Tax Sale

Several properties were not in the tax sale due to a conflict of interest with the Town Attorney. The Town Attorney also only included lots where more than $2000 in delinquent taxes had accrued. The Town of Monkton Policy for Payment of Property Taxes and for Collection and Payment of Delinquent Taxes which states that “typically property will not be included in a tax sale, until at least $250.00 in total delinquencies have accrued”. The Delinquent Tax Collector is requested to find an attorney that does not have a conflict of interest with the remaining parcels including those parcels that were not included in the original tax sale because they fell below the attorney’s $2000 threshold and to hold another tax sale. “



January 18, 2010



“The next topic was Delinquent Taxes. The Town is currently owed

$132,000 in delinquent taxes as of December 31st 2009. All of these monies are budgeted to be

received by the Town since all parcels which are not paid will be sold at tax sale.”



March 8, 2010



(note: No minutes posted in February 2010 at all.)



“Review Minutes of February 22nd Select Board Meeting. … Minutes of the February 22nd Select Board were approved with amendments without objection.”





Stay tuned.

Are Vermont Delinquent Property Tax Procedures Uniform? Fair? Constitutional?

some weeks i cannot go a step farther without trying again, to reform some injustice, to right a wrong, a heaviness in my heart i feel

as someone may fall victim to a tax sale...anxiety triggers my memories,

so i wrote this last monday and emailed it,

meg

To: Selectboard of Monkton, Vermont,

From: Mary Gerdt

Pardon me for sending a string of emails

but within this group of emails is my argument for Monkton Delinquent Property Tax Reform.

These sales are not structured as to a specific date each year.

For instance, our property was targeted at 9 months.

I have never received information I asked for in 2007 like how was I contacted. ( I was not).

When I read the minutes, there is very little info there. Anything that goes in the pay to view newspaper should be in the online minutes.

I never saw my properties were for sale. I was never noticed as a female co- landowner.

I have never been successful at attempting to get the Monkton Selectboard to change the policy, to make it kinder, fairer. John Phillips told me the policy could not be changed.

I question the constitutionality of delinquent tax sales.

Some towns have None. Hinesburg is one.

The reason I bring this up is I feel like these tax sales are too quick, hostile and in our case,

creates a sense of fear.

Our certified card to prove we sent the taxes to the town was returned unsigned, unstamped.

Whether you as a selectboard choose to listen to me or not, I am compelled to speak up again, as I have done since this town tried to take my property.

Having a test at the hospital a tech told me about my neighbor Matera who lost his property to a sale.

A selectman bought it. Not even a ripple on the beaver pond.

Sincerely,

Mary Gerdt,

Monkton, Vermont

---

From: Gerdt, Mary
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 1:48 PM
To: 'David Sharpe'
Subject: RE: I left you a message about property tax penalties and reform

Thank you for responding and for trying to change the laws.

I feel the way the law is written and carried out is unconstitutional.

There is no one for me to complain to.

There is no board that I can speak to.

The town has a mostly male board of abatement that denied all of my protests.

This is the way it always has been.

John Phillips told me the rules will not change.

There is so much more to this particular situation which is why I stated blogging.

People wanted what I and my husband own.

I want to see the constitution followed. Due process, right to abatement offered before sale.

I want to see consequences to the town when they do not follow this.

I want my grandchildren to own land without encumbrances like fees, interests and penalties. Oh yes, and fear someone will take it.

The taxes are too high and are not equalized across different towns.

The townspeople or town lawyer should not be the ones deciding whose property is sold.

No property should be sold at all.

How my life would have been different had Rod Burritt knocked on my door and said, Mary, the taxes are late, are you OK?

Instead, I discovered a month afterwards, that my husband was forced to take an early withdrawal to pay taxes, penalties, etc under duress from an account I had earmarked for my inevitable disability so our mortgage would be paid if I cannot work.

That is when we had to take out another $5,000 or so to pay the next year.

The treasurer made a snotty comment about it was from an annuity account.

As if we could pay but just were refusing.

We pay our way and have suffered shame and hardships.

Thanks for listening.

Mary Gerdt

---

From: David Sharpe [mailto:dsharpe@leg.state.vt.us]
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:26 PM
To: Gerdt, Mary
Subject: Re: I left you a message about property tax penalties and reform

Hi Mary,

Thank you for your note, I am very sympathetic with your situation. In fact, I have co-sponsored legislation to reduce the amount that a community could impose for a penalty, that bill did not get out of committee will not pass this year.

If you add together the 8% penalty and the 1.5% interest per month a taxpayer could pay as much as 23% additional tax in the first year, not to mention all the fees and expense if the property goes to tax sale. It is WAY TOO HIGH!

The legislature did respond to the concern I and others put forth to allow communities to set a rate lower than 8%, unfortunately few have. I would suggest you get a petition or other pressure to the Monkton selectboard to put it on the ballot for next town meeting.

Regards,

Dave

Representative Dave Sharpe
1209 Meehan Road
Bristol, Vermont 05443
dsharpe@leg.state.vt.us
home - 802-453-2754
cell - 802-989-6427

>>> "Gerdt, Mary" 3/29/2011 8:53 AM >>>

Hello Dave,

I am at work and read your synopsis in the Monkton paper.

Please consider this another plea to reform the delinquent property tax laws.

We were the victim of a close encounter tax sale after being 9 months late paying statewide locally administered property taxes to Monkton.

I was never notified as the woman landowner. My husband sheltered me from this mean spirited move by the town of Monkton.

We owed $6500 for 1 year and had to pay 15% to the town’s attorney ($1,000), 8 % to the tax collector ($500) who hates us, interest and paid for the add I have never seen.

Our property was nearly sold 1 month before the next annual taxes of $6500 came due.

We came up with the money to keep our poor 4^th generation family farm.

We go without, cannot fix our house or improve our property. We both struggle with getting older, health issues and less money.

Much more on my blog which is easy to find. Search for my name.

Alternately, if you feel I am hysterical or otherwise contrary to your ideals,

Just ignore.

My fight is as strong as the day I found out my property worth $300,000 was nearly sold to the highest bidder, my name was published in the shame section of the paper which I do not read, others knew my property would be sold and I had no idea.

Everyone wants to blame my husband. I love him and understand he was just trying to protect me as a good husband would.

He paid one day before the sale.

What if we were gay? Who would the town have told? The town said they were OK just telling the husband of 2 landowners/taxpayers.

I want to see the whole law reviewed. The attorney decided which properties would be sold based on value.

Percentages of values have become inflated with the growth of taxes.

Back to work at my day job, I want to impress you with my feelings of frustration.

I do not know for how long, but we are living in Vermont one more year since we paid the taxes again in November.

Is that what my grandchildren will say?

Mary Gerdt  

Deep Cuts

 

I received no response from Senator Leahy about this email (below).

The Monkton selectboard seems disinterested in my concerns.

Still I feel I must ask again to see how we were notified re: 10/13/2009 tax sale of our property (was it both properties?) and what were you going to sell?

Can you settle my mind and tell me my 14th amendment rights were not violated, outside of suing you all to get this information.

You must at least send me the info I asked for: how I was noticed or documented attempts, etc.

Also the minutes where my property was discussed-at any public meeting.

I am willing to pay for copies.

 

And please address what I feel is an unfair delinquent tax policy.

At least give people a couple of years. Other towns never sell the property.

Do not use an attorney with a conflict and charge us $1000 for his work anyway.

That is a burden no other delinquent for 9 months tax payer has had since 2004 policy was started.

Times are tough all the time in this town it seems.

You were so eager to sell in October that year, another first.

But I never heard about your annual November tax sale this year.

Our poor neighbor it seems had to ask about when the next sale would be.

This for another property owned several generations

Your minutes are missing.

Please respond.

Mary Gerdt

 

---

From: Alvarita1@aol.com
To: Senator_Leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Sent: 12/22/2010 5:27:06 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Re: From Senator Patrick Leahy

 

Thanks for your response.

I have raised these issues both locally and statewide at the VT tax department, Governor, Secretary of State. No one will help me.

That is why I ask you, Senator, how I can defend my constitutional rights for free, not $10,000 for a lawyer who rightfully says it is iffy going against city hall.

My 14th amendment rights were violated.

 

The town says I did not have a right to notice when my property's tax lien was about to be sold to the highest bidder. The Town of Monkton thought my husband should tell me. That I am furniture. Call me et al.

 

I believe in part the town acted to try to take property for Raven Ridge which you helped fund and which we never were notified about in any way. The Secretary of State said we could sue whoever did the preserve. Why would we do that? Why don't people just act per the rules?

I do not like finding out our property was on an ecological priority list.

I do not like this system where people just figure they can take what you have.

 

So if you are not where I should go to defend my constitutional right to my property,

then perhaps you could tell me which senator might be interested. Claire Ayer never returned my email.

This topic, it seems is not very popular.

 

Thanks you for your time.

As a Vermont citizen, you might want to review your town's tax sale policy and consider the implications if everyone that was 9 months late had their property sold without their notice.

My office in AHS deals with economic benefits for the poor. None had heard of tax lien sales after only 9 months.

 

I will never stop my quest to bring light to this unfair, arbitrary,asset robbing process.

Thanks for your time. Happy Holidays.

 

 

 

Mary E. Gerdt
alvarita1@aol.com
traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com

the monkton letters

the monkton letters

i got back from the land of lincoln with a mission
i visited my dad, a 90 year old marine veteran of ww2
he is a native missourian
show me state
st. louis city boy
postman philosopher
hard working tough son of a gun
change of life baby
his mom born 132 years ago.1881.
fell in love with his soul mate my mom betsy
who has left the material plane
but who was right with me on my shoulder
as i tried to reach my father
and settled for a warm hand holding hug and a kiss
shirley maclaine explained on the way home on the plane
in my ear buds at 39,000 feet
she said soul mates are 2 of the same person, separated long ago in mu.
so couples who bicker a bit may be actual soul mates
fred and I are soul mates
as were my parents
meanwhile it is up to me to continue to fight injustice,
cruelty, and wrong stuff. You know it when you see it,
unless it is in the dark.
Here, let me turn the light on...

a letter i sent to the town after they tried to sell my property
more to come

My search for common practice in Vermont was replied by a woman from the State. see below

By the way, David Rath is a former attorney of ours.

Rod never spoke with me or tried to contact me in any way.

I will forward my communication with your lawyer.

Mary Gerdt

 

If you have access to the Internet you may find the Delinquent Tax Collector’s Handbook at the Vermont League of Cities and Towns website helpful (http://resources.vlct.or/browse/?c=8) 

 

Generally, towns are encouraged to have a procedure that indicates what steps are to be taken when a taxpayer goes delinquent.  The procedure is meant to insure that each delinquent tax case is handled in essentially the same manner, i.e., at what point does the town initiate delinquent tax sale proceedings, etc.  Secondly, Vermont law requires the delinquent tax collector to take specific steps to notify the taxpayer and the town about a delinquent tax sale (32 V.S.A. Sections 5252 and 5253).  Lastly,  the taxpayer whose property is sold has a right to redeem the property, within one year from the day of sale, by paying the sum for which the property was sold plus interest to the delinquent tax collector.  32 V.S.A. Section 5260.

 

The Handbook will give you a good description in layman’s language of the process.  If you do wish to look at the specific laws (the 32 V.S.A. is a reference to Vermont Statutes Annotated or, in other words, the laws of the State of Vermont)cited in this message or in the Handbook, you can read the statute on-line by going to www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/sections.cfm?Title=32&Chapter=133

 

I would also suggest that you contact the delinquent tax collector directly and ask if there is anything that can be done to prevent a tax sale.  Perhaps a payment plan can be worked out. 

 

Hope this information is helpful.

 

Ellen Tofferi

Deputy Commissioner

Department of Taxes

133 State Street

Montpelier, VT  05633

802-828-2415

Ellen.Tofferi@state.vt.us

 

From: Alvarita1@aol.com [mailto:Alvarita1@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 6:20 PM
To: Tofferi, Ellen
Subject: Regarding payment of property taxes

 

Hello Ellen Tofferi,

I contacted Secretary if State Deb Markowitz about some issues I have related to a "tax sale" of my property.

She suggested you might know some answers to my questions related to property taxes.

 

My husband was supposed to pay the property taxes last year. He used a check from an account the bank closed after we refinanced due to my husband losing his job and general hard times.

When the check bounced, we were assessed 8 percent that day.

My husband, in good faith at the time felt we could pay it by the following November.

He errantly did not tell me any of this, but neither did anyone else.

 

After only 9 months arrears in taxes and no notice to me, a female co-owner wife citizen of Monkton, the town threatened to sell something we own for the taxes. I have yet to see the document the town lawyer drew up. He was an old attorney of ours and I feel he should have tried to find me or the tax collector or someone.

 

The property taxes are in my understanding, partially state mandated and there are many guidelines for municipalities to follow.

 

There is however apparently no recourse for me but to hire an attorney or go to the newspapers and tell the rest of the "minor" landowners to watch out for the tax man.

 

There are other properties in town as recently as 2007 that were 5 years in arrears.

 

I was never notified of my right to abatement, appeal, or to be appointed a guardian if I was babbling in the cellar.

 

Any light you could shed would be welcome,

 

Thanks,

Mary Gerdt

Monkton

Halls of Shame

notes: i know you may have heard all this before. i am sending this letter to the 2 newspapers in my area. this is the unabridged version. this is my story. mary gerdt


Halls of Shame


c. 2010

by Mary Gerdt



“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly”

Abraham Lincoln



I have been reading the Plato articles by Professor Nuovo in the Addison Independent. These have had a funny influence on me. I remember my Mom’s bookshelf full of the classics. I felt detached from them. Now with Google and instant info, here is a long gone philosopher with insight into modern day struggles.

Have we really evolved?

I have wanted to lay out my common man’s argument against Vermont local town officials being able to sell your property for taxes owed to the town and State of VT and charging fees, advertising expense and the Town’s legal expense.

There is an elaborate manual about tax sales produced by the Secretary of State. Another on abatement of taxes. Laws, statutes, the foundation of Vermont civilized order.

My dream was Plato was reincarnated as me, a middle class female nurse with MS who has had a bumpy road fighting for property with my husband, comrades forever to keep what we have fought for our whole lives.

I work in a cave, a concrete bunker with fluorescent lights. When I come out it is dark, go in it is dark.

This is so I can earn living expenses which are soaring along with property taxes.

We missed the deadline to pay taxes and were assessed 8 percent by the town. Less than 9 months later the Town of Monkton was going to sell my property. My husband, trying to shelter me from this hateful act and likewise sensitive to being on the hall of shame of delinquent tax payers, did not tell me about this.

I really missed the whole event. A few weeks later I found out.

My property was one day away from being sold, which could have led to foreclosure. Someone or several someones knew and wanted it. My former lawyer was used against me and never bothered to try to reach me. No one in the town stopped and asked if I was OK. We have lived in this house nearly 20 years. My husband’s family has paid taxes here for a hundred years, even on property they did not own. Fred and I have always kept off the hall of shame. There were many whose property was not sold after only 9 months delinquency.

Have you ever been there?

The Town of Monkton has decided to sell whoever’s property they want to with their rough cut regulations.

I asked for more info on how they decided my property. A selectman answered the lawyer decided.

I wanted proof they tried to contact me. No proof.

I wanted abatement of taxes in light of our extraordinary circumstances and prior history of paying on time for many years.

They refused to respond to my requests.

This year we qualified for income sensitivity on taxes.

We also paid over $10,000 (almost 20 percent of our gross income) in taxes for our poor paint-less house and land. We paid $1000 to the town lawyer when he never talked to me, a woman landowner. We paid $500 to the tax collector who never talked to me nor tried to contact me in any way. We paid for the ad in the Addison Independent and I never have seen it.

I have suffered disillusionment in the cave called Monkton. The beautiful views blurred by an arrogant government which takes property in these hard times. I encourage all to question your town’s tax sale policies and the implications of the town taking a $300,000 property for $6,000 and humiliation on top.

I can now say I have been in the hall of shame and survived.

I pray others may survive and some may pursue legal fights in the cave of justice, the courthouse. I prefer the open fresh air of my backyard and typing in my friendly blog. Hoping I can influence the practice by towns of property land grabs. Hoping I can bring to light my main arguments against the new town hall in Monkton.

By the way, the town hall vote should not have been referred to as a postponement (by Addison Independent), but as a defeat for the folly of the Monkton officials.



Monkton needs to get its present house in order before building a new house. At the present town hall No one is falling over themselves, they are only open very part time. I prefer the smaller rooms so there are witnesses to conversations with some of the omniscient town officials. The blatant disregard for cost is evidenced by the lovely color design by the most expensive no-bid contractor. The lovely meeting rooms will not make the minutes get posted on the website so common folks like myself can read them. Nor will the price make the minutes understandable or specific (or I would have known my property was being sold).

The 1.5 million price tag is obscene when the town wants to rid itself of property owners, people like me who fall on hard financial times. I have anxiety about how long I will be able to work, who will want my property next. The town has ignored my pleas for abatement. The Secretary of State and Governor and Tax Commissioner are powerless to enforce all the statutes and rules. Only the local Town officials can correct the taking of land for small sums of money.

Or at least be accountable by working with a landowner prior to taking. Showing compassion in this difficult era of time.

If I took this to court, it would only shift the money to a lawyer. At $10,000, my reward would be eaten up and then some by most any lawyer. Ironically the town’s lawyer only wanted to sell high priced properties to make it worth his while. I am unable to affect any of these practices except by shining light on them to whoever will publish this. Also if I took the town to court, the town would use the same lawyer with the conflict to attack me and get paid to do it!

No, instead I will save the Townspeople’s money and I will publish on my blog as a completely unabridged version.



Fair warning to other women land owners. Your property could be sold by the town at their whim completely without your being informed. And no one will care. They will tell your husband or your Dad.

Have we come so far after all?



When I think of a modern utopia, My friend Herrad sums it up best,



“The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference.
He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.



If Plato had lived today, would he have gone to court?

Would the town have only told his wife and then put his family farm up for sale?

Would he have seen the folly in building a 1.5 million dollar building to process the foreclosure of the property of the weak, infirmed and those they want to eliminate from society?



Or would he have done, as I have and try to illuminate the issues in a public forum where all may read the sequel to the tax sale notice in the pay version of the newspaper I don’t read because I cannot afford it?



I like to think Plato would shutter to think of what is possible in “modern” society.

As a woman, I feel like we have not come far at all.



Anyone who cares to join me in protesting land grabs in these economic bad times, please write to anyone who will listen.

Please realize that when the town taxes you out of your home, it will be up to YOU to enforce the statutes, rules.



For the record, I wrote the Town of Monkton 3 times about tax abatement and they ignored, a posture that says, go ahead, take me to court.

I choose the path of light.

Do you see?



"Man, like a tree in the cleft of a rock, gradually shapes his roots to his surroundings, and when the roots have grown to a certain size, can't be displaced without cutting at his life." Oliver Wendell Holmes

Late news..

Something woke me up...surfing twitter w/kindle,
play a game, check FB, email.
Then I saw the emergence of the deal to sell back property to a man who lost his family's legacy to a delinquent tax lien sale by the town.
It was a feel good rare kind of never happens fairy tale thing,
if it were not for things like lawyering, which I guess had to be a part of it.
So I looked for clever tweets to re-tweet thus saving my tired mind from being creative.
Found not a one worth retweet. all pretty snotty, snarky,empty.
newspapers make money on tax sales..legal notices, gossip, shame and icky stuff,
It would be up to me to set the record straight...

I am proud of Governor Shumlin for giving this man back his property.
Not a political move, nothing really to gain.
It was cool. I am surprised. The lawyers need to find new work.
No long drawn out scandalous court case.
Now, time for Vermont Property Tax Reform...if not now, when...

 

Proud of Governor #Shumlin for selling property back to tax sale victim.Now time 4 VT Prop tax Reform.Stop sales of tax liens!
— Mary Gerdt (@marygerdt) August 14, 2013

Time for reform....

Article Title: Embezzlement Epidemic: Big thievery in tiny Ira

Link to Article: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110522/NEWS02/110521006/Embezzlement-Epidemic-Big-thievery-tiny-Ira


Here below is my letter to the Burlington Free Press that they would not publish.
It is comment #41 on the above article.
my letter posted 05/24/2011 but censored by the free press...(letter written below is by mary gerdt)
This is a good day to talk about Vermont property tax reform. Small towns are full of history and also bias and personal relationships. Take a Statewide property tax, add confusing, bizarre rules, mix in greed, incremental graft. Then when a citizen tries to fight, put up roadblocks like $10,000 retainer fees, being told "you can't fight city hall, it's not like Perry Mason where the perp breaks down on the stand". The governor on down is powerless to affect the delinquent tax policy and delinquent tax penalties and sales. Even though I believe many aspects are unconstitutional, no one seems to be able to grasp the concept because it has always been like that. Delinquent property taxes are cloaked in shame. WHY?? The Secretray of State has a lovely website about property tax sales but there is no enforcement. Each town decides. Our town foreclosed on us after being 9 months late paying $8,000 (one year tax on our 100 year family farm plus penalties, legal fees for the town,etc...no abatement offered, I as the wife/owner was never notified.). The sale was averted, as I told a friend, by God. Ever since, my faith has been tested. This article gives me faith. A feel good story to me. Wake up Vermonters. When my property was picked to be sold, was I treated differently than this embezzlers friends? Is that discrimination? preferential treatment?
 
What was so controversial about that letter?
 
I have tried to start another blog on the burington free press site. It is de-motivational because after several months they are still evaluating my site and now they do not want to hear my rant even though some comments looked less appropriate. Will have to write the author of this article.
maybe the concept was lost on him......

The Good Fight

The Good Fight

We wish our neighbors Godspeed as they fight the demonic laws that say Vermont towns can

make you pay taxes (no payments, no hardship allowance, no abatement)

and if a day late:

8% more

and up to 15%  to the town's lawyer du jour

and interest, shame, feelings of futility, injustice,

futile arguments

where the town says,

that is the rule as long as I am in power.

Feeling like feudal serfs

off to work each day

"off the farm"

so to speak since we cannot afford to

plant our way to making the $5,000 taxes we owe in only 2.5 months.

(we do not know the exact amount-the royalty alone knows that number.)

Now, for the only public info I am able to find about Monkton's

continued

pit bull style

tax sales

and burdens,

that taxpayers should challenge to the highest court,

but we just cannot

fight that fight

while the MonSter pulls my legs and

tries to undermine my ability to work to save the

family farm.

here is a snip of Monkton VT minutes of selectboard,

a disheartening glimpse at local intolerance to century farms.

great great grandfathers are rolling up in the Cemetery nobody mows anymore.

[Re: Hurlburt Property Tax

Josh, Mike, Dave, and Harry Hurlburt were present to request an extension on their property taxes until October. The list of delinquent property taxes was sent to the town lawyer today. It was noted that at this point the Hurlburt’s will be required to send their tax money directly to the lawyer. The Select Board and the Hurlburt’s discussed ways to keep the fees as low as possible. Kevin Brennan is the lawyer who will be doing the tax sale and his contact information was provided to the Hurlburt’s. Harry Hurlburt stated that Roderick Burritt told him he would hold off on sending the Hurlburt properties to the lawyer until the Hurlburt’s had a chance to meet with the Select Board. It was noted by the Select Board that the town policy is to not hold any properties back from the process of the tax sale; as it might be perceived as preferential treatment. The Hurlburt’s will contact Kevin Brennan to set up a plan.]

selectboard minutes found at

monktonvt.com
 
I have been looking for the ANA-C minutes, no one seems to be responsible,

don't we pay taxes for this?

 

more reasons to blog, the papers do not want to publish any of these rants.

mary gerdt, monkton, vermont gazetteer

 

Sparring, #fracking and Nerve endings

Sparring

Back and forth I go,
editorial arguments,
woven with social media,
like burrs,
snarling up,
the ties that bind kept entering my mind...

Addison Independent's reporter Zach has renewed my interests.
Commenters using what seems like alias personae are verbally sparring with me and the neighbor, about that pipeline Canadians want to slip in thru the neighbor's garden.

It hit a nerve again today
Property Rights
It screamed.

So I thought I would post one letter,
out of all the letters that I wrote
where I attempted to show the cold cruelty of the so called select board-5 elected people who make some decisions,
and sometimes go too far.
Impossible to fight,
I chose to bring to light what is possible in a sleepy town.
People can be cruel, mean, without even drawing a weapon.

Really an FYI, readers,
My nerves need a virtual poultice.
yes, I did all I could do to try to reform this corrupt sick system...

Hello Governor Shumlin,

On October 13, 2009, our 48 acre farm plus 10 acre swamp property was nearly sold by the Town of Monkton to satisfy about $6,000 for being late 9 months paying taxes.

This was the first year we qualified for property tax adjustment by income.

We had always paid taxes on time for 17 years. This property has been in Fred's family since the late 1800's.

We incurred shame, fees, penalties, costs including percentages of the tax to a lawyer and tax collector.

We were never offered abatement or other arrangements.

I never had any idea this happened until a month later when we paid the next year's tax: $5,000.

The day before the tax sale, Fred paid them from an account we established in case I cannot work.

I have MS. Fred was out of work and had been a self employed electrician.

I have been struggling to get resolution. I applied for abatement but could not face certain people in town.

I argued because of many factors. These are on my blog.

I lost.

I still want to see what they did to notify us they were selling our property and why after only 9 months late.

The selectboard is not cooperating in seeing this. I cannot afford an atty. I am sorry the bill died in the committee to look at penalties like the $500 we had to pay the tax collector (8%). The town cannot even tell me what they did to inform me or my husband. I have asked for over 1 year.

The selectboard does what they want and they stand behind this practice. God help the next people

who are 9 months late paying taxes. Nobody else cares.

Thanks for listening. I think you are doing a good job.

Please look at property taxes, they are robbing from my family of bread.

and off topic, Please let Yankee stay open with conditions. Talk with Meredith Angwin. Please do not emotion rule your decisions on this. Rely on science.

Mary E. Gerdt
alvarita1@aol.com
traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com

The Journey of Understanding Vermont Property Tax Snarling Beast

On my Journey of Understanding

the Snarling beast called

Vermont Property taxes...

the digger helped me out yesterday...>

http://vtdigger.org/2013/11/13/property-tax-exemptions-remain-changes-loom/#comment-77141

 

i found out

how small i was,

a woman,

in this hostile town

that thought they owned what i fought so hard to get

and

keep.

(near victim of property tax sale 2007)

 

 

 

reminding me of that day,

the stretcher being wheeled out.

whose hand was i holding

no one told me.

i guessed it was dad.

and his mom.

 

 

Archives of Monkton Chronicles

archiving old entries...

a town with no newspaper

at least in the traditional sense...

is there tradition anymore?

meg 2.6.2015

December 2014

12.15.14

It started snowing last week and plastered heavy snow and ice over trees and power lines. We lost power a few hours and others were not so fortunate. Even with all the cold, rain and snow, Been fired up about the town oh so powerful ones. Tax sale scheduled by the town again...when can this end? how? Meanwhile Fred got me some kefir grains. Now I am a dedicated kefir maker and drinker. My sister gave me some a long ago. It has a delightful taste. Lately, looking to buy some kefir in the store, the price is prohibitive. So here we are, making our own, or growing, ? raising? is that the proper verb? We need a cow, or a goat, that is for sure. More on kefir later. Suffice it to say it is a Pro-Biotic/Beneficial organisms. Fred made some sourdough bread from kefir starter...oh man, our new favorite food obsession.

Hope your Christmas or other Holiday of your choosing is pleasant. The days will soon be lighter. For now, lights adorn homes and trees. Not so much shopping going on...did anyone notice? meg

November 2014

11.30.14

November winds down in Monkton, Vermont

With temperatures fluctuating around freezing,

winds either straight north or straight south.

In a few weeks the daylight will start gaining again.

Christmas already being marketed heavily.

The VT prop tax bill still stuck in my craw...a big ouch. Then Fred talked to people with greedier towns..others pay 9 grand a year? more?

Wanted to post something to mark the end of the 11th month, Stick season, Thanksgiving, Hunting season, now shop until you drop or are trampled...

Keep warm...hey why aren't gas prices falling like the news people tell us???

Food, produce all high...if oil prices crash will all the prices go down?

Not if they keep printing money.

Oh, forget about it....Gray, Brown, Stick season....That is November. meg

11.10.14 What will we do when we run out of dinosaur bones?

You know, Fossil fuels?

The time change happened last Sunday. Many on Earth cannot fathom, no matter how oppressed, repressed or depressed and most present day humans don't have to deal with so called daylight savings time. If the US cannot fix that, no matter which major money sucking party is in power, we are doomed.

My pineal gland is throbbing. Then today, 8 days later, our older atomic clock decided to change the time...we had done it manually...so now it must be resert again. What a waste of my finite number of life moments.

Cold weather is seeping in. A huge storm over Alaska is spinning. We covered some of the windows with plastic, a petroleum product, used to prevent burning petroleum products. Gas prices still $3.30+...Fast to rise, slow to drop. Food prices spiking...once blamed on fuel, you will not see prices ever go down.

Zen Tangling, up to lesson 2 after 8 months...slow learner ;<}

As I do these trying not to be skeptical, following the ruleswhich I find difficult, I start to see, or sense or conceptualize a relaxed place, a meditation. The image that emerges from this exercise surprises me, pleases me, relaxes me. My blogger friends, Twitter people I follow or are followed by, FB binds me to the outside world. Every day a new app, a new image, a new view. Google, Blogging, all chronicles of the current day. Most might be irrelevant in the future world. In the future, If we do research the past, will all of this twitter feed be like the Zentangle, like a Test pattern to Calibrate the current events, painting the future we are powerless to predict?

meg

October 2014

10.31.14 Hallowe'en

October winds down with fairly mild weather overall. Soon to change. I blame the recent impressive solar flares for a little warming spell. Oh, and snow possible for tomorrow..not much.

The leaves all nearly gone now. A few golden leaves left.

The elections are Tuesday. We hope for property tax reform/relief. I am disappointed the price of gas stays so constant in Vermont...down a little, but not like the other areas. Same old song I know. Hoping for the proposed gas pipeline to be stopped. Neighbors have been spreading the word. Hope you have a great November wherever you are. meg

10.15.2014

Already halfway through October. Has been cold and now a few warm days. The leaves are turning fast and falling, The winds and rains, gloomy skies, diminishing sunlight...are all a part of the Fall experience.

The tax bill will be paid by my retirement savings. Having a hard time thinking of how hard I worked to earn that money. Now will pay taxes on it and pay taxes with what is left. No fancy vacation, no pay for 6 months, taxes on taxes.

The town casually mention tax sales in December...maybe. Getting stuck on this again. Lack of consistency, targeted property takings, constitution taking the back seat. No wonder I wrote nothing so far this month. meg

September 2014

September 29,2014

If I blink it will be October. Time does fly.

We received several more tax bills-the dreaded floating number...Trying hard not to let it detract from the beautiful

fall foliage. Originally taxes were the town's cut from the harvest. Now the town state, schools, civic groups all want a cut.

Have enjoyed listening to good old fashioned play by play-NY Yankees on #WVMT 620 am Vermont. My home team is The St. Louis Cardinals, and they are going to the playoffs. I drew a pic for Derek Jeter and will twitterize it.

Tommy our last cat is on my lap and gaining after being sick.

Glad to see Herrad: AccessDenied blogger is back online. A welcome friend.

September 18, 2014. The property tax bill arrived, second version, revised for our 2013 income. Guess they don't care I had no income for 6 months this year, 2014, due to disability waiting period for social security. Back in 2007, I told the town that $10,000 for 1 year for taxes, late fees, penalties for 1 year on our sad looking farm should be forgiven. The account they demanded was earmarked for my eventual disability. Now I am here, and the hungry town wants more of my bread. FYI the tax system has victims like us and beneficiaries like #NFL non profit?? Or the tax collector who I paid 8% of $6k and he never spoke to me or the town attorney, who got $1k and never spoke to me except later, after the shakedown, after $10k vanished...

I know, I know, you grow tired of my intolerance to being treated this old way. I see it as an ever-current issue. Tax sales being talked about on monkton, vt minutes...cryptic, better stay on top of it. No set schedule, rotating attorneys, sales of real property at the whim of town officials. No properties listed by name, thieves in the night.

On a lighter note:

We had a pleasant sojourn to Virginia. It looks like Vermont,

and so similar at first. Then the southern culture shows us our conditioned responses, local vernaculars and different foods, roads, rules. The weather much more tolerable than their summers, early fall a beautiful time.

Have a great day fighting your battles and counting your blessings. meg

Are you a slave to the tax?

A link to an editorial about taxation and history.
Whether tea parties nauseate or elate you,
or if Rush makes you quiver or shiver,
Do not ignore that high taxes especially in Vermont,
Are crippling us.
http://www.truenorthradio.com/editorials/editorial_12_07b_10.shtml

(the girl looked for the monkton sb minutes for the annual october
property tax lien sale. no oct. minutes. omg. oh, nov. minutes posted
oh, tax sale after taxes due this year. wonder what they sold this year?
anybody out there besides the girl want property tax reform in vermont?)

Intro and a poem

Herrad gave me a wonderful award which I am grateful for.
Today, I was again trying to make sense of a process where the Town of Monkton tried to sell my property and I still have never seen the paperwork or the notes of why us?
I even asked the "Addy Indy" for a copy of whatever legal notice was allegedly posted in the pay version of the paper (I read the online) that some residents saw but I still have not received it or seen it.
So in the absence of real info, my imagination runs wild, knowing a few facts
Like the conservation committee minutes were talking about tax sales.
The town did not post minutes on the website (even if they don't have to),
The fact that there is a website leads me to think of that as a way to communicate.
When I saw "tax sale" in the minutes I had no idea it was me.
Apparently, I as the female co owner of a property must rely on my husband to tell me the bad news.
When friends have said they know of many couples who might fall victim to this fate.
That the Male landowner/husband is all the town needed to tell. Fair warning to all you "minor" AKA "Chattell" landowners.With gay marriage legal now, I wondered who the husband might be?
Apparently being 9 months late on property taxes can be soon enough for the town to sell your property, especially if it abuts some natural area.
So I thought I would get this out of my system well before my holiday of Christmas.
It is my way of processing what the 1st ammendment allows me to name "eco terrorism".

I am.

I am an endangered species,

A human seeking shelter, food, happiness.



Finding instead the hate of human beings as unpalatable as a deer finds a rotten acorn and spits it out.

I wish I could spit out all the hate that has come my way.



People are funny about wanting to save bobcats and ravens and bats

While ignoring the people who live on this property that our ancestors fought for

And paid for

Over and over again with taxes, blood, sweat and tears.



Yes the bobcat has an ally,

The bobcat I saw one morning a year or so ago,

Thinking maybe he was looking out for me, the

Endangered human. He took my breath away, this simple creature.

The ravens or crows or I call them Prussian eagles of my fantasy world

Call to me, click, crow and fly over with the whooshing sound of their wings, telling me perhaps,

"Welcome home", hoping I will stay because they like our leftover stale bread and bits of fat

And conversation as We greet Pa Crow in the morning, like my Celtic friend advised.



Could any of the screaming conservationists come and hug me,

Not my trees

And talk to the crows, not ravens, and call the

Mountain its first given name? *



I have felt like the people around me feel I have no right to something I work every day to hang onto,

Until some one finds a way to take it from me,

And perhaps that will be a good time for me to go extinct,

Knowing there will be no one to argue that

"She had a right to live here like the bobcat, crows, bats and the Prussian eagles."



God help the people who lurk about and cannot face my face and talk to me.

God help the people who want to take from me the only things I have ever owned.

God help the people who place animals above citizens,

Trees above the people who own and love them,

Bobcats over my grandchildren

Land over civility.

Fair warning to others in my situation.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Dean Mountain
  Dean's Cave

02/12/11. update.
I still have not received anything from the town explaining to me what the process was
whereby they decided to sell my property. I own 2 parcels.
I still have received nothing from the addy indy as I requested a copy of what was in their pay newspaper,
I feel is not public it is private when they charge money.
I still have not received more than a sorry so sad letter from all the entities I have written.
I consulted an attorney who advised me it costs a lot to go against city hall and that the
parties who orchestrated this will lie and never "break down on the stand like a Perry Mason show"
I know the court system now. It is a hostile environ. All I can do now is keep writing about Vermont's dirty secret. In fact, just google Vt property tax lien sales and find out how you too can cash in on the foreclosure of property by local municipalities to pay education and municipal taxes. mary gerdt, monkton, vt

Change in the Weather

I have not said much about the dreaded global weather debate.
It is an argument which is as futile and silly as arguing with my cat Tommy.
Oh we have had a change in the weather, in fact as they say wait a day the weather will change.

No this wind, this wind is blowing from other directions.

When I found out my property was on a priority list for eco warriors,
it was too late to really address.
By then, the plan to take my property at a tax sale fell through.
I felt like Mr. Magoo, oblivious to who might have been sitting there,
pen in hand, ready to take something I have worked towards my whole life.
My life blood really.

So when I hear the allegations of warmer climates to come, and how the bats will die
if someone does not take your property, money or lifeblood,
I only can say it is a lie.

The crows are not people haters and loners. We talk to Pa Crow and his family everyday, we throw out bits of bread and stale crackers for them and we look at them, and they look at us.
Caw, Caw, Caw.

I love this land more than just about anything in the world. What it means to me,
They really never cared.
Sometimes I sit and wonder who was sitting there, checkbook in hand, at the tax sale of my property that never came to fruit.
I think they were probably furious their plan failed,
Curse, foiled again.

I tried to get someone to care about what happened to us.
My blog Galaxy people got it, and a few others.

So when I am sore from shoveling and more snow on the way,
I have no doubt there is a change in the air,
a Change in the weather.

Time  for spring, already.