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Senators reject amendment to increase targeted property-tax relief; H.491 passes on roll call 26-2
Summary
An amendment to use reserve funds to increase income-sensitized property tax credits was defeated after a finance committee review; the Senate then passed H.491 (homestead property tax yields and non-homestead rate) in concurrence by a 26-2 roll-call vote.
Senators voted down an amendment to H.491 that would have redirected reserve funds to increase the property-tax credit for income-sensitized households and then passed H.491, which sets homestead property-tax yields and the non-homestead property-tax rate.
A senator from Chittenden Central introduced the amendment, saying it would increase the property-tax credit to offset tax increases for income-sensitized households while reserving roughly $69 million of the $77 million set aside to address potential education fund shortfalls next year. The senator described using about $9 million of the set-aside to hold increases for income-sensitized households to zero and said the proposal would require all homestead owners to provide household income on homestead declarations to get better data for future indexing.
Senator from Washington asked for a short recess so the Senate Finance Committee could examine the amendment. After a committee meeting, a speaker for the committee said the committee had voted 5-2 to reject the amendment for now and asked for more time to address the education fund issues in the context of larger education legislation.
On the floor, the Senate voted by voice to reject the Chittenden Central senator's amendment. After that, the Senate read H.491 for third reading and proceeded to a roll-call vote on passage in concurrence. The clerk called the roll; the transcript records 26 ayes and 2 nays and says, "we have passed H.491 in concurrence." The transcript does not show a recorded roll-call listing each senator's vote in the final tally beyond that summary.
The transcript records policy rationales advanced by the amendment's sponsor, who argued the change would target relief to households most affected by property-tax increases and avoid using taxpayer money to lower rates for households that can afford to pay more. The Senate Finance Committee asked for time to consider the broader education-funding context before endorsing that approach.
