Tax department outlines $37.2 million operating budget, IT projects and staffing priorities to Ways & Means

Erin Anderson, chief operating officer of taxes, told the House Ways & Means Committee the Department of Taxes is requesting an operating budget of about $37.2 million and highlighted priorities that include IT modernization, a property tax system transition and staffing adjustments.

Anderson framed the budget by function, saying 57% of the department’s requested operating budget is for salaries and benefits and 32% is for IT, which includes payments to the Agency of Digital Services. “Between those two categories, you're really looking at 90% of our budget,” Anderson said.

The department presented several ongoing and planned projects. Anderson described a near-term migration of the current-use property program into the department’s tax system (VITAACS) and a broader transition to the Vermont Property Information Exchange, a statewide property-tax IT system. She said the department expects to start the current-use transition immediately and to shift records into VITAACS within about a year, followed by a one- to two-year effort to digitize paper records. Anderson also described phase 1 and phase 2 completion of a new scanning system, rollout of an improved phone system, and a planned vendor-support transition for the property system implementation.

Anderson described a “class action request for reclassification” affecting tax examiner and field auditor positions: earlier in the presentation she characterized it as a large request and later clarified the request updates the job descriptions for a specific set of positions to reflect modernized, more technical duties. Committee members and Anderson discussed staffing and recruitment: the department has had recruitment success but still faces vacancies, particularly in compliance positions, and Anderson said the reclassification could raise pay for some roles as the classification structure is updated.

On program performance, Anderson told members the department met a goal to issue 95% of timely personal income tax refunds by June 1 for the third consecutive year and reported the department issued 97% of refunds by that date in fiscal 2024. She said 96% of renter-credit claims were issued within 60 days in 2024 and that homestead declarations were completed two weeks ahead of the late June deadline.

Committee members asked several clarifying questions. Representative Maslin asked about the employee-engagement survey and how repeat questions are tracked; Anderson explained about 70% of the survey items are repeated year to year and provided percentage improvements across multiple engagement metrics. Other members asked about vacancies in the Division of Property Valuation and Review (PVR) and whether the department is planning to increase district advisors; Anderson reported no current vacancies in PVR at the time of the briefing and said there were no immediate plans to increase district-advisor counts.

Anderson also referenced the childcare contribution and changes to corporate and business income tax that the department implemented, and she said the department’s approach to modernizing forms and IT is intended to improve compliance and customer service. She noted the department tracks performance metrics and credited a combination of staffing and technology investments for recent improvements.

No committee votes occurred during the briefing; members thanked Anderson and indicated continued oversight of the department’s budget and upcoming projects.