PASSED
in the State House of Representatives
on January 27, 2016, by a vote of 94-52
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Purpose: Act 46, the education governance reform law passed in 2015 in response to Vermonters’ calls for property tax relief, is a “mess,” causing confusion and unintended expense for many local school districts as they formulate budgets. The legislature is trying to fix the new law, and that is the purpose of this amendment.
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Analysis: Those voting YES on this amendment supported raising the 2 percent allowable growth percentage in Act 46 by 0.9 percent, reducing the penalty for exceeding the threshold from $1 for every dollar exceeding to 25¢ per dollar exceeding, and to compensate for an error in interpretation of the law by the Agency of Education (AOE) that let to incorrect information being given to school districts. This “hold harmless” provision would allow districts to use whichever calculation (the correct one from the law or the incorrect one provided by the AOE) results in a lower homestead tax rate. Vermonters will see a homestead property tax rate increase of 2 cents, from $1.52 to $1.54 per $100 of assessed property value.
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Those voting NO either objected to the resulting tax increase, or supported the objective of the underlying bill (S.233) to repeal the spending caps all together.
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As Recorded in the House Journal, Wednesday, January 27, 2016: “Shall the proposal of amendment recommended by the Committee on Education be agreed to? was decided in the affirmative. Yeas, 94. Nays, 52.” (Read the Journal, p. 97-106.)
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