Most Valley property owners have received their property tax bills for the year. Taxpayers are sorted into residential/homestead payers and non-residential payers. Non-residentials payers are commercial property owners and second/vacation homeowners.
There are two components to property tax bills, one is the municipal tax rate (determined by each town’s select board based on town expenses) that covers town road maintenance, capital expenditures, town staff and town properties. The other is the educational tax portion which is determined by the state and reflects statewide education costs as well as local per pupil spending levels.
Here is how it breaks down for local taxpayers.
In Fayston this year’s municipal tax rate is $0.4101 per hundred dollars of assessed value. A local agreement tax of $0.0002 adds slightly to that rate. Last year’s town tax rate was $0.41 plus a local agreement tax of $0.0003. Residents and non-residents pay the same rate.
Fayston’s education tax rate is up this year, the only Valley town to see such an increase. That has to do with the town’s Common Level of Appraisal which the state uses to calibrate fair market values in each town based on when the town last reappraised its property. Fayston’s education tax this year for residents is $2.2471, up from last year’s rate of $2.0441. The non-resident rate is $2.2491, up from $1.9589 last year.
Moretown reappraised in 2024 and hence its education taxes are the lowest in The Valley because they are based on 100% of fair market value. Moretown’s town rate this year is $0.46, up from last year’s rate of $0.35. The residential education tax rate this year is $1.1867, for a total tax rate of $1.6467. That compares to the residential education rate of $1.6631 last year and total tax rate of $1.6467.
Moretown’s non-residential taxpayers are looking at an education tax rate of $1.1868, down from last year’s $1.258. Total tax rates for these payers are $1.6478 this year, compared to $1.6084 last year.
Waitsfield’s taxpayers will see a town tax rate of $0.5837, down from last year’s rate of $0.5865. Residential taxpayers will see an education rate of $2.1484, down from last year’s $2.1713 and a total tax rate of $2.7321 this year, compared to $2.7578 last year. Non-residential property owners will see an education tax rate this year of $2.1503, up from last year’s education tax rate of 42.0808 for a total tax rate of $2.734 this year, compared to $2.6673 last year.
Warren’s town tax rate this year is $0.4515, down a bit from last year’s rate of $0.4548. The residential education tax rate this year is $2.3482, down from last year’s rate of $2.3679. Total residential rate is $2.7997, compared to last year’s combined rate of $2.8227. Non-residential taxpayers in Warren are looking at an education tax rate of $2.3503, up from last year’s rate of $2.2692 and a total rate of $2.8018 this year. Last year’s total rate was $2.724.
