Vermont Ways & Means hears report on Act 106 tax-abatement and tax-sale changes; working group backs $1,500 minimum before tax sale

BURLINGTON, Vt. — At a Feb. 12 Ways & Means Committee hearing, legislative staff and members of a multi-stakeholder working group reviewed how Act 106 changed municipal tax-abatement and tax-sale law and recommended several next steps, including a widely supported proposal to require at least $1,500 in delinquent municipal charges before a town may initiate a tax sale.

Kirby Keaton, city council staff, summarized Act 106’s principal changes, saying the law added a one-year waiting period before a municipality may initiate a tax sale and requires the municipality to offer a “reasonable repayment plan” before moving to sale. Keaton noted the statute also expanded what municipal charges may be abated, added rules for class abatements (for groups of similarly affected properties), extended notice periods, and required translation resources for notices.

Why it matters: The tax-sale and abatement process affects low- and moderate-income homeowners, mobile-home residents and municipal budgets. Vermont Legal Aid, municipal officials and investor-practitioners gave sharply different views on how often tax sales turn into permanent loss of housing and on which reforms would best protect homeowners while preserving town finances.

What Act 106 changed

- Waiting and repayment: Act 106 requires that taxpayers be delinquent for at least one year before a tax sale can be initiated and that a municipality offer a reasonable repayment plan first. Keaton said a taxpayer may refuse or fail to respond and an initiated sale may proceed if the plan is denied, unanswered or violated.

- Notices and translations: The statute lengthened some notices to 30 days, requires first-class mail and, if available, email; requires posting a notice on a structure’s front door when appropriate; and mandates that a translation resource be offered with notices and on the property tax bill backer (the informational material the Department of Taxes provides with tax bills).

- Abatement procedure and class abatements: The law clarifies required written findings when a board of abatement acts, broadens abatable municipal charges…