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Committee debates returning 50% of local-option-tax surplus to town highway aid
Summary
The House Transportation Committee examined draft language to send half of annual surplus local-option-tax pilot funds to Town Highway Aid, with witnesses and fiscal staff disputing whether surplus should be measured before or after a $3.4 million reappraisal/listing payment and noting the change targets rising municipal transportation costs.
The House Transportation Committee spent the bulk of its March 18 session weighing a proposal to direct 50% of each year’s surplus from the local-option-tax (LOT) pilot fund to Town Highway Aid, aiming to help municipalities facing growing road-maintenance costs.
Why it matters: Committee members and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) said municipal transportation budgets have not kept pace with demands from heavier delivery trucks and other pressures. VLCT representative Josh Hanford told the committee the change would return more money to the network that maintains local roads and bridges.
VLCT’s case and the committee’s goal "The law says nothing about using it for 1 time funds here and there," VLCT representative Josh Hanford said, arguing the pilot payments and current practice have diverted municipal LOT proceeds from their expected uses. Hanford…
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