Vermont Senate leader sounds alarm on potential tax hike

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A top Vermont lawmaker is calling property tax rates and the potential for another spike a de facto emergency. Senate Leader Phil Baruth is now urging Gov. Phil Scott to take the first full week of the new legislative session to address the soaring costs of schools for next year and the long term.

After a double-digit increase in property tax rates this year, many taxpayers are concerned with affordability to the point where many say they might not stay in Vermont if lawmakers can’t fix it soon.

“My kids are looking to move out of state because it’s very expensive to live in Vermont. It’s as expensive as some of the bigger cities,” said Leslie Borrok of Shelburne.

Borrok says she and her husband might have to do the same if property taxes continue to rise.

“If we’re gonna be on a fixed income with Social Security and whatever monies we’ve been able to pull together, it’s going to be unaffordable for us to continue living here,” she said.

The statewide property tax for education rose 13.7% this year. State leaders are bracing for another double-digit increase in 2025. Among the cost drivers– soaring health care costs for teachers and staff.

It affected the budget at the Slate Valley Unified Union School District, which put five spending plans to voters this year.

“When you have that amount of money being taken up over something that we don’t have control over, that is frustrating I think to all of us in the schools and in the classrooms,” said Brooke Olsen-Farrell, the superintendent of the Slate Valley Unified Union School District.

To keep budgets and tax increases down, school districts may have to grapple with cutting positions, something Alexis Koch knows well as a teacher at Essex High School.

“We basically had to cut a bunch of programming in our schools, a lot of teachers were let go, and I personally since I’m also a teacher in the district also almost was cut back,” Koch said.

In a statement released Monday, Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth says we are at a critical junction and calls on the governor to propose solutions to the funding crisis at the start of the session. Baruth, D-Chittenden County, wrote, in part: “Vermonters need, want and deserve a thriving public education system as well as affordable and predictable property tax rates. In order to achieve both, we need the Governor’s early, transparent and collaborative engagement.”

Interim Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders says in the short term, the state can again look to pump other tax revenues into the education fund to help offset the impact on property taxes.

“It will require us to make difficult choices. We are operating with a limited amount of money but we understand that there is a need to make some stabilization in our system,” Saunders said.

This past year, the Legislature used approximately $95 million to buy down the average statewide property tax rate from the projected 18.5% to 13.8%.

But the education funding formula may need to be completely rethought for long-term solutions, along with other hard choices, like consolidating schools and larger class sizes.

Both Democrats and Republicans agree there are no easy answers.

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