Someone who is visiting the lakes region from out ofY state sent me this picture of a license plate from a truck parked in the lot of Skelley's Market:
Attachment 8036
I was hard pressed to explain the disconnect between the area being dependent upon tourist dollars and the sometimes hostile attitude displayed towards those who choose to come here and spend their money in our community. Is this really the message we want to send to those who pump money into our local economy?
If you know who has this license plate, or an attitude that reflects the message being sent in this license plate, could you please explain that if the tourists who come here did "GOHOME", or went elsewhere to vacation, the impact on our economy would be significant. Those who you want to GOHOME are the ones who visit our restaurants, buy groceries at our stores, buy gas for their boats, rent properties and hotel rooms...the list goes on and on. What an ungrateful way to say thanks to those who really create jobs in our community!
A whopping 80% of the property tax revenue generated for the Moultonborough budget is from non-resident tax-payers. They fund our schools, police, fire, library, transfer station, and town roads. What a nice way to say thanks to them, too!
Come on folks, let's think about who really pays for the bulk of what this community spends and instead of being rude and antagonistic we express some gratitude and appreciation for what the non-residents allow us to do.