CARRABASSETT VALLEY – After lengthy and intense debate, residents at Wednesday’s town meeting voted overwhelmingly to appropriate $20,000 to help the Sugarloaf Ski Club build a new racing facility at Sugarloaf/USA.
According to Bruce Miles, president of the ski club, the current competition lodge on the mountain is an integral part of the many races run on Sugarloaf all winter long, and after about 20 years of use, it is in desperate need of replacement. He said the proposed Competition Hill Facility is anticipated to cost about $80,000, with $20,000 each expected from the club, the American Skiing Co., which owns Sugarloaf/USA, the town, and private fundraising.
But Charlotte Zahn, the club’s former president, said voters would be going against everything in the town’s tradition if they approved the measure.
In the past, the town has always helped the ski club by improving town property, she said, but since the American Ski Co. will own the new facility, appropriating the $20,000 would be like giving money “directly to a private company.”
“This is corporate welfare,” she said, and argued the town has no place raising money for an improvement that will, when built, essentially belong to a company that she claimed is floundering.
Some of the estimated 140 people in attendance agreed with her, and one made a motion to table the article until next year’s town meeting. But Miles pushed for funding, saying that no matter who owns the facility, it’s the ski club and the residents of Carrabassett Valley will benefit from an improved competition facility.
“Come on, we’re talking $20,000, folks,” Miles said, in a last appeal to townspeople.
When a voice vote was taken, an overwhelming majority of people said “yea” in favor of spending the $20,000. John Norris explained that, “I remember when Amos Winter built the first rope tow” up the mountain, “before it got high falutin.” If not for the ski club, he said, Carrabassett Valley would be nothing. “If we’re not going to give money to the ski club,” he said, “we shouldn’t give anything to anybody.”
All 67 warrant articles passed at the meeting, including one that was expected to create controversy.
An article asking residents to approve a management plan for approximately 2,100 acres of publicly owned land bordering the Outdoor Center, which was the subject of passionate debate at last year’s meeting, passed unanimously with no discussion from townspeople. So did the town budget, which increased taxes from $6.40 per $1,000 of property value to $6.90 per $1,000.
Incumbents John Beaupre and Steven Pierce beat out Joseph Lessard for the two three-year selectmen’s positions. Incumbent Danielle London was elected in an uncontested race to a three-year term on the School Committee, and incumbents John Clements and Steven Pierce were both elected to three- year terms on the Sanitary District. Neither position was contested.
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