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Act 181 reform goes to floor next week/ School reform now ‘Act 46 2.0’?/ Local highway $$ redirected to statewide reappraisal
By Guy Page
A bill to spend $82 million for fiscal year 2027 for housing and care of the homeless received a ‘straw poll’ approval in the House Human Services Committee this morning.
H.938, Vermont Homelessness Response Continuum, would “establish a continuum of supports and services to prevent or divert households from homelessness and the address the needs of Vermonters who are homeless.”
The program would provide prevention and diversion services and several levels of shelter, including rental assistance, low-barrier shelters, specialized shelters, and hotels and motels. The hotel and motel nightly rate would be set by the Legislature.
Only two members of the committee voted no in the straw poll – Reps. Brenda Steady (R-Milton) and Todd Nielsen (R-Brandon).
Act 73 ‘reform’ is Act 46 2.0? – After months of sturm und drang about forcing school mergers and creating large school districts, House Education is now punting to the November, 2025 School Redistricting Task Force Plan to 1) seek voluntary school district mergers and 2) encourage sharing among existing school districts, rather than force their mergers into large mega-districts, as set forth in Act 73 last year.
Count Rep. Chris Taylor (R-Milton), vice-chair of Education, as not a fan of the new tack, which was posted on the House Education website Tuesday. He called the largely aspirational measure “Act 46 2.0,” a reference to a 2015 ‘landmark’ law intended to encourage cost-saving school mergers. It resulted in very few mergers, and school spending continued to rise.
“I don’t think Vermont deserves another Act 46,” Taylor said. He acknowledged that sharing resources among existing supervisory unions and districts would save some money, but “I’m nervous about voluntary mergers.”
Local option taxes being snagged to pay for reappraisal, not local highway improvements – The Vermont League of Cities and Towns is crying foul over a House Ways and Means Committee plan to redirect a surplus in municipal revenue from state ‘payment in lieu of taxes’ away from improving local highways, and to funding a massive statewide reappraisal of property.
Local governments collect PILOT revenue from the State of Vermont for state property within their boundaries. With the rise of local option taxes, there’s more money being generated and VLCT suggested some of that surplus go to a state highway fund for repairing local highways. However, Ways & Means Chair Emilie Kornheiser now wants the $15 million in play to fund the required statewide reappraisal of property.
“These reappraisal and equalization payments would otherwise be paid from the General Fund,” a VLCT member alert says. “Local Option Taxes are locally approved and locally raised revenues. Voters did not approve their use to offset state costs.”
Act 181 reform goes to Senate floor next week – A bill that would push implementation of the highly controversial ‘road rule’ will go to the Senate floor next week. S.325 would (among other goals) delay until 2030 the rule that would require Act 250 oversight of any planned development on a rural lot with an adjacent road of 800 feet or more.
Critics say this rule alone would bring development in rural Vermont to a screeching halt. A stop Act 181 Facebook page has gained about 2,000 followers in recent weeks. A senior state environmental official told VDC yesterday that he has heard from many people who have never been interested in the Legislature before taking an active interest in the road rule.
Stay tuned…. VDC will update developments on all four of these stories in coming days.
Barre Town Rep to retire – Rep. Topper McFaun (R-Barre Town) will retire from the Legislature in April in order to care for his ailing wife, he told the House and VDC this week. McFaun, a Boston-area native, is well-regarded on both sides of the aisle as a skilled negotiator, principled compromiser, and expert on health care.
McFaun said his wife suffered car accident injuries over 40 years ago, and now needs more at-home care than is available. “I noticed it especially during the week off,” speaking of the Town Meeting break earlier this month.
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Categories: State House Spotlight
Vermonts new slogan seems like it should be, Vermont, not quite as bad as NY or Massachusetts, yet !
If they’re “ours” help them…if not, send them home
$82 million? What’s that, about $150K per homeless person? This is the progressive dragon eating the taxpayers’ tail again — they tax and regulate us into poverty, condition our children to be dysfunctional, then tax and regulate us to “cure” the economic problems THEY sow. Meanwhile, they attract nonproductive transients here — VT is a great place to deal drugs, trade EBT cards, duplicate welfare benefits, and get free housing, heat, and healthcare — unless you are running a business or working for one of the few employers that is not the state bureaucracy or an NGO funded thereby.
That comes out to approximately $240 for each Vermont worker/tax payer. The same people that think it absurd to expect anyone to pay for documentation to prove American citizenship to vote have no problem adding this expense to everything else we have to pay for the privilege of living in Vermont.
And they would also oppose any effort to restrict housing benefits from those who move here specifically to take advantage of them.
Once something has been declared and subsequently accepted as a “human right”, it is a blank check on the public treasury. The legislators who insist on maintaining the motel program just dont realize what it has done to soil Vermont’s reputation among tourists. When tourists then try to avoid troublesome motels by favoring air b&bs, the legislature and some towns target the operators for more taxes and regulations.
Must have reappraisals, in order to keep this bonding and thief of private property ponzi scam going. You just keep getting taxed on property that has not been sold for that amount.
Veterans before the homeless, many of which migrated here for the generous benefits. Oh wait! Few in the legislature are vets so they don’t understand.
A preference for those who have EARNED IT, specifically military veterans should have been codified into law long ago. The common sense parts of the country have begun their return to a merit-based society. It’s time that the “progressive” states follow suit.
The state of Vermont complained they don’t have any money, but they can spend stupid money like this. Money does not belong in the hands of homeless. They can go get a job like everybody else. Most of these people aren’t even from Vermont
This sounds like the beginning of Covid is revisiting us. Using John’s numbers that $450ish/day. That’s worse than the voucher system at #150/night.
How about the school gyms house the homeless at night, and most of that $82M after paying funds for overnight supervision. could go to school budgets. Gym mats could be come mattresses at night. Room dividers could be stacked in the far end of a gym during the day and divide the space at night.
Recalling that In March 2025, the Southern District of New York issued federal subpoenas to the Row NYC and other migrant hotels, such as the Roosevelt Hotel, demanding lists of all “aliens” (migrants) residing at these facilities. This criminal probe into federal immigration law violations follows reports of migrant gang activity—specifically the Tren de Aragua gang—operating within and around these hotels. The Row NYC was the first hotel converted for the migrant surge and will be the last of its kind to close for this purpose. ‘Families’ at the Row NYC have been subject to a 60-day stay limit, leading to recent rounds of evictions as the city attempts to move migrants toward self-sufficiency. Since 2022, the city has paid approximately $170 million to the hotel’s owners under a contract costing over $5 million per month. The stories abound of the ‘homeless’ out of staters, alien to Vermont, yet American citizens, fleecing the Vermont taxpayers.
We have a machine at work: The Homeless Industrial Complex. Billions earmarked for the homeless, yet no evidence of any help or aid to the targeted recipients…taxpayers paying for absolutely no changes…money is never the solution when Dems and overall greed funnel these packaged programs…what do you have to say Bernie, Balint, and Welch??