Assessment expert says Vermont’s ratio study shows regressive patterns; urges districts, time adjustments and audits

Chris Landon, an assessment consultant and instructor with professional designations in mass appraisal, told the House Ways & Means Committee that an analysis of fiscal-year-2022 sales and assessment data shows multiple statistical indicators of regressivity and horizontal inequity in Vermont’s current ratio-study approach.

Landon said he ran the Lincoln Institute–inspired vertical-equity tests on a cleaned FY2022 dataset drawn from PVR records, using the CLA (common level of appraisal) to equalize and trimming only outliers per standard practice. “When we look here, the trend line is down and to the right,” Landon said, describing decile medians of assessment-to-sales ratios; he said the pattern indicates lower-valued properties tended to be assessed at higher relative levels than higher-valued properties.

Key findings and why they matter: Landon said the dataset produced multiple…