The Monkton Selectboard, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has several tools at its disposal to minimize the impact of municipal taxes. The Vermont Legislature has passed S.344 which allows the Selectboard to reconsider aspects of the budget passed by the Town at Town Meeting and to waive some late payment penalties. With the help of the Road Foreman, Ben Hollwedel, the Selectboard decided to forego road paving projects for this year and instead patch the roads using a ‘hot box’ of hot asphalt. This one time change to the highway budget will result in a savings of $95,000. The Town also intends to roll $30,000 of 2019 and 2020 new Town Hall and Library expenses into the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank bond. The two together should result in $125,000 savings to the Town and a decrease in the Municipal Tax Rate by 4.89 cents. This would move the Municipal Tax Rate from a projected rate of 0.4358 to 0.3869. The final Municipal Tax Rate is set by the Selectboard in August when the Grand List is finalized. The Municipal Tax Rate is only about 20% of the total property taxes with the remainder coming from the Education Tax.
The Selectboard is also reviewing the Policy for Payment of Property Taxes. In particular, the 8% penalty for late taxes is under consideration and is under active discussion at Selectboard Meetings.