Alder Brook Sportsmen's Association, a Littleton gun club of which I am a member, had a special meeting last night to approve new bylaws. Seems like our ever hungry town government has voided the club's tax free status, assessed the club property at $86,000, and levied $3800 worth of taxes. That's a lot of money for a couple of acres of scrub land, with no frontage onto public roads, so far out of town it's almost in the next town. $3800 divided among the membership would jack up dues by $100 per member per year. Alder Brook Sportsmen has been around since 1962, and after all that time we suddenly became taxable.
We got a lawyer, who claimed that if we did a load of gov'mint paper work, rewrote the club's bylaws, jumped thru a lot of obscure hoops, and filed paper work with Littleton, Concord and Washington, we could become a tax free non profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Thank goodness we have some dedicated volunteer club officers willing to wade thru this swamp. The new gov'mint written bylaws were adopted by unanimous vote.
If they make life this difficult for a little private club, imagine what a small business, which actually makes money, has to go thru.
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