Andrew Stein, chief operating officer at the Vermont Department of Taxes, told the House Appropriations Committee on Dec. 17 that the department is submitting three Budget Adjustment Act requests: a $1.5 million increase to the renter credit (B138), an updated forecast that reduces the homeowner rebate appropriation, and a $500,000 request to fund a telecommunications property valuation and inventory project.

Stein said the renter credit appropriation is indexed for inflation and the department reforecasted the current year because analysts expect up to 1,000 households to lose federal rental subsidies; that combination pushed the current-year appropriation from $9.5 million to an estimated $11 million, a $1.5 million increase. He said staff and the Joint Fiscal Office work together on forecasts but that limited historical data under the program’s recent eligibility changes made precise prediction difficult.

On the homeowner rebate (the property tax credit’s municipal 'circuit breaker' component), Stein said the appropriation is forecasted to decline because the threshold that defines eligibility ($47,000) has been fixed for many years and incomes rising with inflation have reduced the number of households under that cutoff. He explained the homeowner rebate appropriation covered municipal reimbursement for the property tax credit and that some structural changes in Act 73 will affect how the program operates going forward.

Stein also described a technology- and vendor-led project to bring many telecommunications assets onto the municipal grand list and to create valuation classes. The department had a previous $150,000 pilot; it is now requesting a consolidated $500,000 to cover an initial 1–3 year vendor engagement to inventory roughly 10,000 items already identified, build valuation models, and provide support for appeals. Stein said the net effect on companies, municipalities and consumers is not yet clear: "some companies will be paying less. Some companies will be paying more," and the department will provide further analysis.

Committee members asked whether reclassifying telecommunications property would shift costs to consumers and whether the department could forecast inflation-driven increases better in the base budget. Stein said forecasting uses a consensus model with the Joint Fiscal Office and that some true-ups will always be needed. He committed to follow up with more details about the 1,000 households cited as losing federal rental subsidies and about the telecom valuation timetable and consumer impacts.

No formal committee action was taken at the session; the Department of Taxes said it will return with additional data for committee review as part of the BAA and next year’s budget conversations.