MINUTES OF THE VALA DIRECTORS MEETING
MARCH 19, 2008
The meeting was called to order
by President Galen Mudgett at 9:20 a.m. with 15 present as follows:
Mark Paulsen PV&R
Bill Johnson PV&R
Randy Viens Essex Chittenden
John Wetzel Fairlee Orange
Steve Jeffrey VLCT
Frank Partsch PV&R
Bill Hammond Vernon Windham
Keith Darby KEVA Co. N Hero Grand Isle
Todd LeBlanc S Burlington Chittenden
Pat French Randolph Orange
Tom Vickery Stowe Lamoille
John Vickery Burlington
Galen Mudgett, Jr Sharon Windsor
Louise Ferris-Burt Bethel Windsor
Carol Hammond Vernon Windham
A motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes of the January 9, 2008 meeting. The motion passed.
The Treasurers report was read
by Louise as follows, and accepted as read.
Balance 1/4/08 $
7,170.27
Dues Received $ 30.00
IAAO Course Registrations 8,550.00
(26)
Expenses -
Donuts $ 6.62
Instructor Fee 3,500.00
Postage 8.82
Reimburse 450.00 (IAAO withdrawal-early Feb.)
Total $3,965.42
Ending Balance 3/19/2008 $11, 2784.85
______________________________
IAAO Income
Course
Total Course registrations for attendees $11,250.00 (25)
Instructor Fee Paid $3,500.00
Accts Payable: IAAO 6,000.00 Course Materials for 24
Site rental 300.00
Cancelled Attendee 450.00 After Course started
Overage of Funds received $1,000.00 $ 5,034.85 (ck book bal.)
______________________________
Membership
Total Memberships paid to date 7/1/07 – 3/18/08 124
There were no applications for scholarships for the Income Approach Class.
Louise also reported that there
continues to be interest in the VALA website with people from both New
England and across the country visiting the site.
Steve Jeffrey:
Steve gave an update on a couple
items of legislation that is of concern to Listers as follows:
S. 350 the Energy Efficiency Bill:
The Senate Natural Resources Committee had proposed sections 22 and 23 of the bill that would have exempted a number of energy efficiency and alternative energy improvements to buildings.
As Bill Johnson and I
indicated yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee has indeed proposed
unanimously to strike those two sections. They seemed to respond to
the concerns Galen, VLCT and PVR had testified to as to the difficulty
in administering such a proposal. The bill is on the Senate Calendar
today but may still be referred to the Appropriations Committee. If
it is not referred to day, it will be up for Senate action tomorrow.
See http://www.leg.state.vt.us
I had also told the gathering that Rep. Helm had proposed to eliminate the "income approach" method that Listers are required to apply for subsidized rental housing properties. As the language in the House Journal below indicates, he withdrew the amendment, but he is planning to offer it on the miscellaneous tax bill (no number yet) when it is reported out, probably next week. Listers concerned about this issue should contact your House members and urge them to act on the Helm proposal of amendment.
H. 863
House bill, entitled
An act relating to creation and preservation of affordable housing and smart growth development; Was taken up and pending third reading of the bill, Rep. Helm of Castleton moved to amend the bill as follows: by adding a new Sec. 27 to read:
Sec. 27. 32 V.S.A. §3481 (1) is amended to read:
(1)
"Appraisal value" shall mean, with respect to property enrolled
in a use value appraisal
program, the use value appraisal as defined in subdivision 3752(12)
of this title, multiplied by the common level of appraisal, and with
respect to all other property, the estimated fair market value. The
estimated fair market value of a property is the price which the property
will bring in the market when offered for sale and purchased by another,
taking into consideration all the elements of the availability of the
property, its use both potential and prospective, any functional deficiencies,
and all other elements such as age and condition which combine to give
property a market value. Those elements shall include a consideration
of a decrease in value in nonrental residential property
Steve noted
that any move toward an income tax method of funding education was dead
for this year.
The current
use issue was discussed. It appears that there isn’t much interest
in changing the program since many legislators have land in current
use. Tom Vickery had suggested a $3000 cap per acre which would
result in a million dollars of savings. About 1100 properties
would be affected, most of which were bought for protection, not farmland
or forest. However, there was no desire on the part of the legislature
to consider this suggestion. Tom asked those present if he should
continue to work for changes in the current use program, addressing
the inequities and lack of checks and balances. Tom was encouraged
by those present to continue his efforts for change.
Note: The following explanation is from Bill Johnson regarding the reimbursement of taxes to the towns for current use properties: The state reimburses towns for the full amount of the municipal taxes foregone based on the enrollment of the prior year (i.e., for 2007 tax year, it is 2006 enrollment that determines the amount of the payment). The school taxes aren’t directly reimbursed but are a foregone revenue. That is, the towns don’t collect any revenue associated with the exempt reduction, just taxes on use value. In the equalization study, the state only reflects the use value of enrolled properties so the state education tax treats the value above the use value as exempt from taxation. But there is no free lunch, to make up for the foregone education taxes, we have to have uniformly higher education tax rates for all towns in the state. So, everyone in all towns is collectively paying for the cost of the program.
Thanks Bill.
There will be no downward adjustment in the school tax rate this year. The amounts will be $.87 for residential and $1.36 for non-residential. This is due in part to very few school budgets being voted down this year. Overall, there is a 5.3% increase in school budgets. The amount for income sensitivity is now $90,000, with a 1.8% threshold. Education fund tax rates will increase next year.
School payments will be made directly to the School Districts this year rather than to the Towns.
Steve asked how the “Paulsen Funding for Education of Listers” was working. Mark responded that it appears to be working well and noted that the money is only for PVR sponsored courses. The question was asked as to why the education money can’t be used for NEMRC seminars as well as the TOEC’s, IAAO courses, and those taught by PVR people. After a lively discussion, Bill Johnson said that the only way to include the NEMRC seminars would be by legislative action.
It was moved by Louise that
education reimbursement wording be changed to include any training tied
to the maintenance of the grand list by Listers and Assessors.
The motion was seconded by Todd LeBlanc; the motion passed. Steve
said he would try to get this into the Miscellaneous Tax Bill.
Bill Johnson
Terry Knight has been working with Michelle Wilson to get the education program back on track.
Property taxes are not at the center of legislative concerns. There will be a few changes in the current use program. It will no longer be necessary to send out change of appraisal notices when it is just a change in the dollar per acre set by Current Use. Municipal land outside of town can now be in current use if eligible.
Rolling reappraisals: There were those in both the House and Senate who thought rolling reappraisals would solve the CLA dilemma by keeping properties at 100% of fair market value. After Bill explained to the Legislature what would be involved in both cost and additional personnel, the plan was scrapped for now.
Energy Bill – S.350: parts of that will be eliminated. There is a provision to value commercial wind turbines which would amount to 3/10 of 1 KW generation tax on the school side.
Subsidized housing valuation: there have been discussions as to the amount of reduction of value that should be allowed for restricted properties since there is diminishing value to the owner when there are restrictions. PVR will be coming out with a technical bulletin for a recommended approach of valuing covenant restricted housing. There were many comments as to the proper completion of the property tax transfer reports for this kind of property—amounts listed may or may not reflect the value of restrictions—so that the amount shown may not be what the seller gets or the buyer pays for the property.
Bill also said that sales of these types of properties should not be included on the sales study.
Mark Paulsen passed out a Lister
Education Questionnaire from Michelle Wilson for desired classes.
Mark also noted that there are classes that are currently being taught
that may need modernization/restructuring. If anyone has suggestions,
they should contact PVR. Also discussed were classes or courses
which could be made available “on-line.” Michelle uses
the term “Webinars” which would allow Listers to take a class/course
“on-line” at his or her own pace.
Frank Parsch reported that
the new 2007 cost tables will be available in approximately two weeks.
Residential tables will be from Marshall & Swift’s 4th
quarter of 2007, and commercial tables will be from 3rd quarter
of 2007.
Education Committee: John Vickery: There will be five locations for the TOEC’s this spring. John and Todd will be teaching a workshop on valuing convenience stores/gas stations. Because there is so much material the workshop will be an overview and they will provide handouts at the class.
John passed along a request from Priscilla Robinson to be part of the education committee, which was approved.
Tom Vickery will replace Mark
Paulsen on Legislative Committee and Mark has also asked to be removed
from the Lister of the Year Committee. Terry Knight’s name should
be added as she was last year’s recipient of the award. Peter
Rimsa and Caroline Lockyer were suggested as past recipients who might
be willing to serve on this committee.
Galen inquired of the group
about developing a policy for testifying at legislative committees as
a representative of VALA on issues that affect Listers. It was recommended
that a committee be formed to develop a policy which could meet annually
to change or update policy. If any one has suggestions on this
issue, please forward them to Carol Hammond. See attached tentative
Legislative Policy.
Keith Darby of KEVA Company gave the group an overview of his business which is building websites for towns using the CAMA lister cards. This website would include all the information from the lister card plus pictures. A property parcel could be accessed in different ways—name, street address, etc. The downside, like that of the property card, is that if a parcel has more than one house, or a house with more than one section, only the first one can be accessed. The initial cost for set up would be $3500 with a $500 annual maintenance fee plus $1000 for updating. Mr. Darby has set up the website for the town of Fairlee.
(Secretary’s note:
I am not sure if the figures given were actual or if they are based
on Town of Fairlee’s costs)
The next scheduled meeting will be May 7, 2008. A tentative date for the Annual Meeting is September 19, with an alternate date of September 26.
With no other business discuss the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Hammond, Secretary
LEGISLATIVE
POLICY
SECTION 1. VERMONT ASSESSMENT POLICY: The broad outline of assessment policies to be supported by the Vermont Assessor and Lister Association during the ensuing legislative session will be developed by the Legislative Committee; reviewed and amended as needed and appointed by the Board of Directors and adopted at the Annual meeting. Suggested policy initiatives and amendments may also be presented by members, in writing, prior to the meeting or on the floor at the meeting. The existing language of the Assessment Policy shall remain unchanged from year to year unless amended by two-thirds of the votes cast at the Association’s Annual Meeting.
SECTION 2. SPECIFIC LEGISLATION: The Legislative Committee may recommend specific proposals of legislation within the adopted Assessment Policy for consideration by the Board of Directors.
SECTION 3. POLICY CHANGES: The Board of Directors may, from time to time, during the legislative session modify VALA Assessment Policy within the guidelines adopted by the membership; determine which legislative proposals are consistent or counter to the adopted policy; and adopt positions on pieces of legislation that contain both proposals consistent with the policy and proposals that are counter to the policy. The Board may only take such actions when it finds that it would result in improving the assessment climate in Vermont.