school tax rates

One of the last actions of the House of Representatives was to act on H12, An Act Relating to Education Property Tax Rates. The bill lowered the Homestead tax rate from the statutory rate of $1.10 to 86 cents and lowered the Non-Resident rate from $1.59 to $1.35. These are the rates that most school boards in the state were using for the school budget votes in March. The bill also sets the per pupil base payment rate at $8,544 for FY2010 and FY2011.

I plan to make sure our local boards here in the Franklin-1 legislative district, Fairfax and Georgia, understand that the bill sets the per pupil base payment rate for both years; there will not be a base payment increase for FY2011. The state payment will be the same for both years and if local boards want to raise spending in FY2011, it means the increase in tax will all fall on the local property tax rate. The state will not pay for the local decision to raise spending in FY2011. Governor Douglas is expected to sign this into law.

Contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us

Rep. Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives