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Tax Department outlines pilot fund shifts and warns of near-term drawdown as municipal payments rise
Summary
Department of Taxes officials told the House Ways & Means Committee that several municipal payments and one-time appropriations are pushing pilot special fund expenditures higher in FY26, though conservative revenue forecasts and new municipalities adopting local-option taxes likely keep the fund solvent through FY27.
The Vermont Department of Taxes told the House Ways & Means Committee on Feb. 12 that a string of appropriations moved into the pilot special fund will draw down the fund balance in the near term but are likely sustainable if projected municipal local-option tax revenues materialize.
Chief Operating Officer Andrew Stein and policy staff reviewed performance metrics, recent vendor and processing issues, and a portfolio of pilot fund expenditures including correctional facility payments, reappraisal/listing payments, a municipal grand-list stabilization program and AOT town-highway non-federal disaster payments. Stein said the department had moved some payments to the pilot fund to "make municipalities whole" and that certain items proposed in the governor's recommended budget were shifted into the pilot construct with House Appropriations' concurrence.
Why it matters: The pilot special fund is financed in part by municipal local-option taxes and a per-return administrative fee;…
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