Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement:
“Over the last two months we've had the good fortune of collecting $55 million more in revenue than we expected to. This brings us to a total of over $170 million more than we took in last fiscal year.
“With a growing surplus, this is not the time to raise taxes on Vermonters, and especially statewide property tax rates.
“At the start of the special session, legislative leaders committed to passing a budget that would not include the property tax rate issues we are still working to resolve. Unfortunately, the budget that passed today does not address a pending $23 million statewide property tax rate increase that will go into effect on July 1, 2018 if no further action is taken to prevent it.
“It’s unclear to me why they would make such an extraordinary effort to raise tax rates in a year when we have collected more tax dollars from Vermonters than we need.
"However, with additional work on the education finance bill, and our growing surplus, I am confident we can reach an agreement that funds the legislature’s investment in teachers’ retirement and prevents tax rates from rising.”
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