[G]ov. Phil Scott said Monday that unlike in his first term, when he fought to prevent property tax rate increases, this year, he will not pressure lawmakers to reduce an anticipated tax increase driven by higher school spending.
The governor’s first two years in office were marked by budget standoffs over proposed increases to the state education property tax, and education finance reforms Scott pitched, and the Democratically controlled Legislature rejected.
In both 2017 and 2018, when increases in school spending put pressure on property taxes, Scott pressed lawmakers to harness funds to artificially buy down tax rates.
The Joint Fiscal Office predicts the school budgets voters approved last week will lead to a 2.4 percent hike in education property tax bills in fiscal year 2020.
But the governor said Monday that he won’t act to lower rates this year, and his spokesperson, Rebecca Kelley, said that the Scott administration will not push for new education finance reforms, unlike in prior years.
“As the governor indicated today, these are the budgets that passed and he’s done what he can in his first two years to try to increase efficiency of the system to avoid these kinds of increases, but voters voted,” Kelley said.
WCAX reporter Neal Goswami first broke the news of the governor’s shift on property taxes on Twitter on Monday.
The governor’s pivot on property taxes comes after he lost key Republican support in the Statehouse in the November election. Republicans lost 10 seats in the House, making it far more difficult for Scott to veto legislation without facing an override vote from Democrats.
In his first term in office, Scott was able to rely on Republican support in the House, and vetoed nine bills, including three budget proposals.
Scott also pitched proposals to reform the state’s education finance system and reduce school spending over time. His ideas included special education reforms, and a plan to increase staff-student ratios, and a statewide teacher health care benefit.
Most of these ideas, with the exception of the statewide benefit, which the Legislature passed in 2018, were rejected by Democrats, who criticized the Scott administration for introducing them too late in the legislative process.
At the beginning of this session, Scott acknowledged that his loss of Republican support in the House meant that he had to seek more collaboration with lawmakers.
Kelley said that unlike in 2017 and 2018, the administration would not be pushing for education finance overhaul proposals this year.
If Vermont is going to have a conversation about reforming its education finance system this year, it will have to be led by lawmakers, she said.
“There hasn’t been as much of an appetite for the ideas that he put forward and it’s going to have to be a collaborative discussion with the Legislature.”
