Editor’s note: The following article is republished from the lieutenant governor’s March 6 newsletter. Today, I have an exceptionally important topic to talk about: taxes! Taxes have become a dirty word, and in many ways for good reason. Since the 1980’s there has been a significant shift in how much everyday people pay in taxes. Wealthy and high-income individuals have seen their…

On Town Meeting Day 29 of 93 reported budgets were voted down By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger Voters struck down close to a third of school budgets across Vermont on Tuesday, March 5, the highest proportion in at least a decade, according to the Vermont Superintendents Association.  Twenty-nine of 93 reported budgets were rejected, according to unofficial results…

The Vermont Legislature is now on its Town Meeting week break. It is an opportunity for us to go to town/information meetings, meet with constituents, and re-energize our personal batteries. My hope is to get to 12 town/information meetings this year. I represent 25 towns, this is a great time to get a better sense…

With self-imposed deadlines coming up to move legislation from the House to the Senate or vice versa, the pace of bills advancing is heating up. And being the second year of the biennium with elections coming up this fall, the motivation to get one’s priorities passed is increased. For some it may be now or…

Rutland and Windsor are among them President Joseph Biden has signed a major public assistance disaster declaration for seven Vermont counties to assist communities in recovering costs for the repair of public infrastructure damaged by severe storms and flooding on Dec. 18-19, 2023. The declaration covers Essex, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor counties.…

By Deborah J. Benoit, UVM extension master gardener    There are countless things that can go right or wrong in a garden. Some of them are obvious: too much or too little water, diseases, pests and critters that nibble on our plants. Other things that can make or break your gardening efforts are less obvious. It’s those little…

By Glenn Russell/VTDigger Above: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley spoke in South Burlington on March 3.   By Emma Cotton and Paul Heintz/VTDigger Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won her first state in the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday — and it happened in Vermont.  Haley defeated former President Donald Trump by the slimmest of…

By Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger Submitted   The latest data from the shows a small decrease in projected education spending and affirms previously anecdotal evidence on the major factors causing a projected increase in education property taxes. Health care costs, construction, special education, disappearing federal money and increased salaries are all contributing significantly to a projected $230…

By Curt Peterson When Select Board candidate Andrew Gieda confronted current board members about Killington’s personal property tax at a recent public meeting, it garnered attention. Gieda claimed a large percentage of eligible Killington businesses were not filing their “personal property tax” reports, and that the self-reporting process encouraged filers to minimize their obligation. He…

  It was widely known that putting together the next state budget was going to be tight. All the extra federal money that came to Vermont during the pandemic, has previously been appropriated and state revenue growth has slowed. The governor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (beginning July 1, 2024) had an overall increase…

Warns Legislature: more work is needed to control costs Governor Phil Scott signed H.850, an act relating to transitioning education financing to the new system for pupil weighting, on Thursday, Feb. 22. The new law seeks to reduce property tax increases this year, which could reach 20% without action by local school districts, according to Scott. When signing…

During House discussion of H.850 last week, which removes the controversial 5% cap on the equalized homestead rates for education, the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee repeated the obvious: Spending increases generally cause tax increases. And that is the predicament that K-12 education budgets are in right now. If there were minor…

Valentine’s Day at the State House this year was surprisingly eventful and romantic. In addition to the usual round of cheer and chocolate in each committee, we celebrated the first wedding of a legislative colleague in many years. State Representative Mary-Katherine Stone married U.S. Air Force Captain Ryan Fischer on the State House steps in…

Vermont Fish & Wildlife announced Monday, Feb. 5, that a Longnose Gar taken by a bowfishing angler in 2023 has been certified as a new state record. In May of 2023, Pennsylvania angler Jeremy Bicking was out bowfishing in the evening on Lake Champlain and took a gar that weighed 18.6 pounds. This big fish measured…

It’s no secret that school property taxes are heading higher. In the Dec. 1 letter from the Tax Commissioner, they were estimated to go up by 18.5%, based on a 12% increase in school district spending. That number is now over 20% statewide as proposed spending is now up 14.8% on average. Some of the…