Reps take up property taxes, energy and housing policy

By JOHN W. VORDER BRUEGGE
Eagle Times Correspondent
SPRINGFIELD, VT — Vermont’s residential property tax, lack of affordable housing, and the cost of home heating dominated the discussion during the “Ask Your State Representatives: A Community Conversation” event held at the Springfield Town Library on Tuesday evening, Dec. 5.

Less than a month before the start of the 2024 General Assembly session, Springfield’s House Representatives Alice Emmons and Kristi Morris faced questions on the education property tax rate, Affordable Heat Act (Bill S. 5) and Vermont’s housing “crisis.”

With the conversation taking place just days after Vermont Tax Commissioner Craig Bolio issued the Education Tax Rate letter for fiscal year 2025 with a projected residential rate increase of 18.7 percent, and Gov. Phil Scott released a statement calling the “forecasted average increase of almost 20 percent in property tax bills … ‘not acceptable,’ ” the Education Fund and the residential tax rate were front and center.

Emmons and Morris stressed that this tax rate was the administration’s projection and subject to change between now and May, most notably because of local school districts’ budget decisions. Until local school budgets are created and voted on, the estimate should be viewed as the “governor’s number,” as Morris characterized it.

Education generally was on the minds of attendees who asked how costs could continue rising as enrollment numbers are declining. The cost of implementing state mandates was cited and a retired teacher reflected on how different teaching is today. In response to concerns about costs associated with a Springfield student on the spectrum who had to be taught in Ludlow, Morris pointed out that spending priorities were decided by school boards with voter input, with increases in one area often requiring cuts in another.

In answer to a question about the Affordable Heat Act, Morris pushed back on the claim that the act would result in a 70-cent per gallon increase in the cost of fossil fuels and sought to allay fears that the act (which he voted against in committee and on the House floor) might cause a sizable jump in consumers’ cost of heating with oil, natural gas and/or propane.

Morris described how installing heat pumps in his home had cut his heating expenses, pointing to how adapting to climate change could be beneficial for both household budgets and the environment. He and Emmons stressed that additional study would occur between now and the return of S. 5 to the General Assembly for consideration in the 2025 session.

Both Emmons and Morris pointed to the absence of promising ideas to counteract Vermont’s housing shortage, though last session lawmakers created a “downtown donut” program — as Emmons referred to it — that incentivized construction of homes around downtowns. The problem for Springfield, however, was that local geography made program impractical.

Frustration with what appear to be a significant number of vacant homes in town was tempered by a recognition that private owners made decisions about property use, rather than governments.

Morris warned of the likely appearance of a “sleeper issue,” something that few people will have seen coming. But as both Emmons and Morris had acknowledged in introductory remarks, plenty of challenges await the General Assembly in the coming session, ranging from flood repair and remediation to the state budget and property taxes, among others.

Springfield Area Public Access Television Volunteer Weston Marshall recorded the event and noted that it should begin airing later this month. Go to sapatv.org for scheduling information.