It was another quiet week on the House floor which means it was busy in committee. House Ways and Means spent the week on a variety of topics.
Some of our time was focused on the continued work of modernizing Vermont’s communications taxes and fees. The shift from landline phones to more cellular devices has caused a strain on funding for our E-911 fund. We then took testimony on S.18 – an act relating to banning flavored tobacco products and e-liquids. This bill passed out of the House Human Services committee after coming over from the Senate. Another topic discussed was H.629 – an act relating to changes to property tax abatement and tax sales. No action was taken on any of these bills.
The bulk of our work this week was fixated on education spending and transitioning to the new system for pupil weighting. As I’m sure many of you are already aware, education property tax bills are estimated to increase by almost 20% on average across the state this year. Previously the legislature passed Act 127 which updated the pupil weighting system and created a 5% cap on property tax rates. The updated weights were adopted to bring more equity to districts that have been historically disadvantaged. The intention of the 5% cap was to help insulate those districts most negatively affected by the new weights. However, due to rising costs and the ability to increase funding with no tax penalty due to the 5% cap, we saw a substantial increase in education spending this year, estimated to be at 14.8%.
Rep. Chris Mattos
The Ways and Means committee spent a great deal of time working on a bill that would remove the 5% cap and still provide a discount to districts affected by the weighting change. The bill essentially does three things; removes the 5% cap, applies a 1 cent discount for each percentage point of those negatively affected over a 5-year period and provides a mechanism for any school district to rescind warned budgets and hold a vote at a later date. We know that making changes this late in the process can be difficult, but our intention is to provide the greatest opportunity for success. In Milton, based on this bill, we will see a seven-cent tax rate decrease in year one and Georgia will see a 13-cent tax rate decrease.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns I would be happy to listen. Feel free to reach me by email at CMattos@leg.state.vt.us or by cell at (802) 922-2059.
