school taxes

Earlier this week the Ways and Means Committee voted to set the statewide property tax rates. The base rate for Homestead property was set at $.88 cents per $100 of appraised value and the uniform Non-resident rate is $1.37. These rates are both one penny above last year’s rates. Keep in mind that these rates are the statewide rates, and the local rates that voters approve will be added. The local rates are based on the Common Level of Appraisal in individual municipalities and the local school budgets. The local school budget is still entirely established by local voters.

The Homestead and Non-resident property tax rates had to go up for a couple of reasons. First, growth in the Grand List statewide is slowing due to the economic environment. Second, the amount of money transferred from the General Fund into the Education Fund is short about $27 million for reasons I have written about. Last week the House tried to solve that problem by allocating unused money at the end of the fiscal year to fill in the shortfall. However we heard that Governor doesn’t like the plan, and it probably won’t survive action in the Senate. Work continues.

School Board members will be interested to know that the Committee also voted the per pupil base amount for FY 2013 to be $8,723. If you’d like more information contact me at cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us

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