BRATTLEBORO — Calculating a town's homestead and nonresidential property tax rates, said Town Lister Albert Jerard, requires a multi-layered process.
Vermont's rate structures exist as education funding mechanisms established by Act 60 and Act 68.
The state applies nonresidential tax to any property not used as a primary residence, such as a business or second home, said Jerard.
First, the state determines the overall base educational rate.
Then, towns find their individual nonresidential rates by calculating together the state's base and their common level of appraisal (CLA). To find the homestead rate, towns also calculate in their district spending adjustment, said Jerard.
The district spending adjustment is based on the percentage a town's school district spends above the state's spending per-pupil average. According to Jerard, Brattleboro's spending adjustment is 170 percent - one of the higher ones in the state.
Brattleboro's homestead tax rate, which affects homeowners, is higher than the nonresidential tax. The state designed the homestead rate, however, to total lower than the nonresidential rate. This year, the state's base homestead education rate stands at $0.87 and the nonresidential at $1.37 per $100, said Jerard.
But, because Brattleboro's district spending adjustment outpaces the state's per-pupil spending, the homestead rate ended up higher than the nonresidential, he said.