I spent my Town Meeting Day in Westford, where the chili was just right and the meeting kept to a good pace.
When Westford residents hear the report about their school budget, taxes and the like, they are getting it from none other than Martha Heath, who chairwoman of the Legislature's House Appropriations Committee as well as chairwoman of the Westford school board. I can assure you that residents in many other towns are not getting as thorough or as knowledgable a run-down on Act 68.
From the audience's questions, it was apparent that some were well abreast of the discussion. I have a feeling others were not. Heath concedes every time lawmakers make repairs to the spending system, it adds a layer of complication.
There are new things to learn about it all the time. This year, of course, Vermonters with household incomes of less than $105,000 will no longer get prebate checks to help pay their property tax, but instead that amount will be applied directly to their property taxes. In Westford, residents pay their property taxes in four increments. A resident asked if the "prebate" will be applied to each payment or the first or what?
The answer, in Westford, is that it will be applied to the first. So what can residents who pay their taxes through their mortgages expect? Well, that's probably up to the mortgage company - whether to adjust the monthly payments or provide a refund. Yikes. That should be easy enough to explain to the person on the other end of the phone of a mortgage company based in New Jersey.
- Terri Hallenbeck
