This article is by Lisa McCormack, of the Stowe Reporter, in which it was first published Oct. 16, 2014.
Morristown is among a growing number of towns calling for a two-year freeze on the statewide school property tax rate.
The Morristown Select Board voted unanimously Sept. 29 to support the resolution, written and passed by the South Burlington City Council in September. It would cap the statewide school property tax rate at 2015 levels.
Select boards in Dorset, Fairlee, Huntington, Killington, Newfane and Vernon also support it.
In a letter sent to town and city managers statewide, the city council wrote, “A cap on the rate will provide much-needed and immediate relief to property-tax payers and communities confronting rapidly escalating property taxes, and affords the Legislature time to enact comprehensive reform to our system of financing education in Vermont.”
The resolution asks the Legislature to pass the tax freeze as soon as it meets next year.
The resolution emerged from a property tax reform conference organized by town and city managers, hosted by South Burlington in August.
Morristown officials say they’re frustrated because, despite their efforts to hold the line on spending, property tax bills have soared in recent years and citizens are upset.
“Folks don’t realize there’s no local control,” said select board Chairman Bob Beeman.
Town Administrator Dan Lindley believes “the Legislature has to be prodded to do something this session.”
Flooding lawmakers with calls, emails and letters, asking them to freeze the state school tax rate, could spur them to devise a more equitable funding formula, he said.
But not everyone agrees.
House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, doesn’t believe the South Burlington resolution is workable.
“It’s superficially appealing, but I believe we have to put our attention on spending issues as well as financing issues,” Smith said.
The measure won’t work unless school districts also cap spending, or the Legislature redirects a significant amount of money from the general fund to help pay for education, he said.
Smith has been campaigning door to door ahead of the November elections and says his constituents are raising concerns about rising property taxes.
“It’s the thing that comes up the most,” Smith said.
School finance reform will be on the Legislature’s agenda next year, and “I think the House is ready to have that conversation,” Smith said. “The solution to the problem remains elusive but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work on it. Should I be re-elected, we could have a conversation that involves all the different parties and moves the issue forward.”
At the Statehouse, perspectives on school funding tend to break along rural versus urban lines rather than along political party lines, he said.
“The different communities have different views on the size of schools and size of classes and what educational institutions mean to the community,” Smith said.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, supports the resolution.
“I hope the Stowe Select Board picks it up and joins the debate,” Scheuermann said. “Everybody in Vermont has to be part of this conversation and demand action.”
Scheuermann was on the Stowe Select Board from 2004 to 2010.
When education taxes are high, it’s difficult for towns to raise the local taxes they need for capital projects, she said.
“I don’t think the incredible burden it puts on municipalities gets enough attention in Montpelier,” Scheuermann said. “I don’t think they realize how suffocating it is to municipalities.”
She pointed to a Town Meeting Day discussion earlier this year, when Stowe voters debated whether to spend $20,000 to build a roof over a new staircase to the Stowe Recreation Path.
“The roof seemed to me to be a no-brainer, but we had a discussion about whether it’s really needed,” Scheuermann said. “We can’t afford these continued property tax increases. It affects everything in town, including nonprofits, because people can’t give to them, and businesses because people can’t go out to eat. There seems to be no end in sight.”
She contends that the current formula, which allows primary homeowners below a set income threshold to pay a reduced “income sensitivity” rate, drives spending increases.
“I believe people are voting for higher spending because the funding system encourages that,” Scheuermann said. “Locals vote on their school budget and the state is required to pay for it.”
The resolution sends a clear message to lawmakers, she said: “We have to reform the funding system.”
