Financial Problems Plague Ascutney

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(Host) Financial troubles have led to foreclosures and a change in ownership at Ascutney Mountain Resort.

But the ski area’s future is still unclear – and so is that of a couple hundred homeowners who depend on the mountain for sewer and water service.

VPR’s Susan Keese has more.

(Keese) Rumors and uncertainty are running high in West Windsor. The Ascutney Mountain Resort has been a social and economic cornerstone of the community since 1940.

For almost two decades it’s been owned and run by Steven Plausteiner, who bought it out of bankruptcy in the 1990s. 

But one of Plausteiner’s lenders foreclosed on the property and took over the resort.

Now, no one seems to know whether the mountain will even open this year. Not even Glenn Seward, the town’s select board chairman.

(Seward) "There’s very much a sense of unease, because there’s been a very limited amount of information. I know there’s a lot going on behind the scenes but there’s a lot of information that is unavailable at this point."

(Keese) It IS known that the resort has had financial difficulties. Seward says it owes 20 thousand dollars in taxes to the town.

Court documents say the resort owed $1.8 million dollars to MFW Associates, the investment partner that foreclosed on the Plausteiners and the resort.

In July the court approved a deal that transferred control of the resort to a holding company associated with MFW Associates.

Seward says a company representative named came to a select board meeting a few weeks back.

(Seward) And it is my understanding that he is under the direction of the lender. He simply said, his words were, ‘There has been a management change.’

(Keese) Seward says the lender is Dan Purjes. He’s a former securities trader and the agent for MFW Associates.

And state records show that a new company has been formed, Ascutney Mountain Resort Liquidation Trust. The agent for that new company is also the lawyer for MFW Associates.

No one from the companies would explain the new corporation, or discuss the resort’s future.

Recently property owners on the mountain narrowly averted a shutoff of their water and sewer service stemming from the mountain’s unpaid bills.

John Bossen is president of Ascutney Property Owners Association. He says the association was told that the mountain’s power was being shut off.

(Bossen) "Our problem is that our water and sewer are two separate companies owned and managed by the resort. But unfortunately the pumps that run the water and the sewer are all intertwined with all the resort’s other services so CVPS had no way to tell which lines are which and said they’re shutting off everything."

(Keese) Bossen says the homeowners group has been working with Central Vermont Public Service, the town, and the resort to keep the meters running.

For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.

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