State auditor clashes with administration, towns on tax financing program
“Earlier this month, the Shumlin administration told lawmakers they should “wipe the slate clean” for disputes over this complex municipal financing scheme, by forgiving $6 million that the state auditor says four towns owe to the state education fund.
Tax increment financing districts are state-approved zones where municipalities use statewide property taxes to pay for public infrastructure. The investments are designed to stimulate downtown development. As property values rise as a result of redevelopment, the town or city keeps those extra tax dollars instead of remitting them back to the state.
Shumlin said auditor Doug Hoffer backed the $6 million amnesty to towns at a press conference at the beginning of March. His administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding said: “The current auditor supports the proposal in front of us, because there’s a great deal of uncertainty about where those numbers [the $6 million] come from.”
But that contradicts the latest message from the auditor’s office. Earlier this week Hoffer wrote a letter to Spaulding, saying his office “does not agree with total forgiveness of the amounts owed,” describing that as a “blanket amnesty.””
Rudaeakanchana, Nat. VT Digger.org 22 March 2013.