Split-tax vote fuels political split in town

A controversial property-tax vote by Amesbury's Municipal Council has added to a growing political divide in the city, fueling talk of a possible bid to recall most of its members.

Despite vocal opposition from Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III, local business owners, and many residents, the council voted, 6 to 3, on Nov. 28 to set different tax rates for residents and businesses. Kezer vetoed the measure, warning that a split rate -- and its higher taxes for commercial property owners -- could stifle downtown growth and eventually cause higher residential taxes. The council overrode the veto on Dec. 7.

Even before the debate, a group of citizens had begun meeting out of frustration with the action of six councilors -- the same six who voted for the split tax -- who they say are imposing their own agenda on the city.

Leaders of the citizens group said the tax vote has brought new members to their ranks and fresh impetus to their discussions, now centered on how to oust the six councilors.

"We're looking at all the options," said William Parker, a group leader. Those include focusing all their efforts on the fall elections and mounting a recall against one or more of the six councilors: Hank Brennick, Christopher G. Lawrence, Alice M. Lindstrom, Donna M. McClure, Mario J. Piniero, and Michelle M. Thone. The terms of all nine municipal councilors expire next January. The elections to fill the seats will be held in the fall.

"It doesn't trouble me. They have that right," Brennick said. "I ran on a platform that I was going work to reduce the tax bill of the residential taxpayer, and that's what I have accomplished."

"They can say and do whatever they choose," Lawrence said. "I've been in office for six years, and I've always done what I felt is representing the taxpayers in Amesbury the best way I could. And I don't see anything I've done, or any of the supposed six have done, that in any way harms the residents of Amesbury."

The talk of ousting councilors caps a contentious year that saw Kezer, a first-term mayor, and the council clash on several other issues as well, including eminent domain legislation, funding for Town Hall repairs, and administrative reforms.

The council has been sharply split, with Brennick, Lawrence, Lindstrom, McClure, Piniero, and Thone often on opposite sides of votes with councilors Roger Benson and Ann Connolly King. Councilor Robert W. Lavoie has voted with either side at different times.

In October, Benson and King called on Lawrence, the council's president, vice president Thone and Finance Committee chairman Brennick to relinquish their posts, accusing them of poor leadership. The three dismissed the criticism.

The same month, some District 5 residents began circulating petitions expressing "no confidence" in Brennick, their councilor, and Lawrence, an at-large member of the council.

Chris Hyde, a leader of the District 5 effort, said that after the tax vote the group began to grow and to expand its focus to recalling one or more of the six councilors.

"It was a very bad decision," he said of the split tax. "It hurts existing businesses, but more importantly, it sends a message to business people who might be considering relocating" to Amesbury.

Brennick disagreed. "We did our homework, and many of the commercial properties will not be affected that greatly by it," he said.

Lawrence said a split rate is a way of "leveling the playing field," noting that commercial property values have not kept pace with residential rates in recent years.

In adopting a split tax rate, the council decided to have businesses taxed at a rate that is 15 percent higher than if the city maintained a single rate. Amesbury's fiscal 2006 single tax rate was $13.59 per $1,000 valuation. As a result of the council decision, the current fiscal year's business rate rose to $15.47 per $1,000 and the residential rate fell to $13.16. While it still gives Amesbury the highest homeowner tax rate in the region, the drop means the tax bill of the average homeowner is increasing this fiscal year by just .3 percent, or $12.

But critics said their concerns with the council majority go beyond the tax vote.

"The mayor won a resounding mandate and they have tried to block him every step of the way," Hyde said.

Lindstrom said statistics refute Hyde's assertion, noting that since Kezer took office a year ago, the council has approved all but one of 58 measures he proposed, while the mayor has vetoed five of 11 council initiatives.

Noting that some of the six targeted councilors have connections with the Amesbury Taxpayers Association, citizens group member Donald Meskie said the council majority is trying to advance the association's platform, "which is antitax."

"I'm an advocate for the taxpayers, and that's something the ATA does," said Thone, a former association director. "My views have not changed. There was no secret whatsoever made of the fact that I was a director and that my intentions coming into office were to demand accountability. I believe we've done that. That's what's upsetting a lot of people."