Ways & Means backs H.481 to keep clean-water surcharge, amend 3‑acre stormwater rules

The House Ways & Means Committee on H.481 voted to report the bill favorable after hearing testimony that it would repeal the scheduled sunset of the property transfer tax clean water surcharge and make multiple changes to state stormwater permitting and funding.

Michael Grady, legislative counsel with the Office of Legislative Counsel, told the committee that section 2 of H.481 repeals the staged sunset on the clean water portion of the property transfer tax surcharge so that the surcharge remains in effect at its current rate of 0.22 percent. He said related changes in sections 3–5 remove statutory language that assumed the surcharge would be reduced or end in 2027 or 2039.

The bill also changes the state’s 3‑acre stormwater permit regime. Grady said section 1 extends deadlines for properties subject to the 3‑acre rule: owners in the Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog watersheds would have until Oct. 1, 2028, to reach compliance, and owners elsewhere would have until Oct. 1, 2038. The committee’s fiscal analyst later confirmed the later statewide date moved from 2033 to 2038.

H.481 creates or expands municipal financing…