‘Several hundred dollars’ for Village residents

By Jason Starr

The Essex Reporter

It came down to the wire, but state legislators from Essex were able to secure an approximately $1 million tax credit for Essex Junction residents before the legislative session ended Saturday.

Attached to a miscellaneous tax amendments bill, the credit fixes a one-time glitch in the common level of appraisal calculation (CLA) used to determine education taxes. The bill was awaiting Gov. Jim Douglas’ signature this week.

The result was what Essex representatives argued was an overpayment to the state education fund last year. The legislation passed last week retroactively brings Essex Junction’s 2007 CLA up to 100 percent and reimburses Junction residents on their 2009 education tax bill.

The reimbursement will be different for each resident but should amount to “several hundred dollars” apiece, Essex Rep. Tim Jerman said.

“We’ll have to figure out with the Department of Taxes how to apply the credit,” Jerman said.

The original version of the bill would have ensured all future reappraisals would result in a CLA of at least 100 percent. But the final version made it a one-time-only fix for 2007.

Getting even the one-time fix passed was difficult for the Essex delegation. The House version of the bill included the CLA provision, but the Senate didn’t support it at first. Some legislators were reluctant to take money out of the education fund, Jerman said.

It wasn’t until the final hours of the session Saturday that the bill was finally approved.

“Some people said, ‘the money has already been paid, let’s just have them absorb it,’” Jerman said. “So there were some nervous moments.”

The response from Essex’s legislators was: “We’re refunding people who overpaid to the education fund,” Rep. Linda Myers of Essex said.

The provision also had to overcome a perception of special treatment for residents of Chittenden County, Jerman said.

“There were some nervous moments.”

Rep. Tim Jerman

Essex Junction