Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is proposing a charter change that she says would help create a fairer city tax system.
The plan would exempt between $30,000 and $50,000 from a home’s assessed value when calculating property taxes, effectively lowering the tax bill for some residents. But owners of other properties, such as commercial ones and second homes, would end up paying more taxes as a result.
Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, hopes the council will approve the plan in time for it to be placed on the Town Meeting Day ballot in March 2026. A resolution presented at Tuesday night’s council meeting asked a council subcommittee to vet the idea and report back by December 1.
Some Democratic city councilors were skeptical, arguing that renters and small business owners would bear the brunt of the cost shift. But after some discussion, the majority of the body agreed to send the item to committee for further review.
“This proposal shows a lot of promise to providing direct relief to working- and middle-class folks in a very timely manner,” Councilor Carter Neubieser (P-Ward 1) said. “I’m excited to see what the discussions ahead look like.”
Property taxes in Vermont are based on home values, a system that many see as flawed. A 2023 study of Burlington properties found that higher-value homes were typically under-assessed while lower-value ones were over-assessed, meaning people of more modest means end up paying disproportionately more. Many homeowners receive credits on their education taxes, but far fewer are eligible for municipal tax rebates. In Burlington, a 2021 citywide property reassessment resulted in higher city taxes for the majority of homeowners.
Mulvaney-Stanak’s proposal is based on a recommendation by the Tax Fairness Working Group, a 12-person panel she convened in January. The group issued its final report earlier this month.
Under the model, owners of homes with the lowest values would see the highest reductions on their tax bills. Those with homes valued at $50,000 and lower — such as many of those in the North Avenue Co-op mobile home park — would pay no taxes at all. Meantime, taxes would increase 4 to 6 percent for owners of the highest-valued homes, second homes and commercial properties, including rental complexes.
Officials haven’t yet discussed in detail how the new system would work, but Mulvaney-Stanak provided some high-level scenarios at Tuesday’s meeting. If the system were already in place this fiscal year, she said, the owner of a home valued at $500,000 would have saved $261 on their tax bill, whereas the owner of a commercial or rental property valued at the same amount would have paid $210 more in taxes.
Some councilors were concerned about that tax shift. Councilors Evan Litwin (D-Ward 7) and Marek Broderick (P-Ward 8), who are renters, both said they fear landlords would pass any tax increase on to tenants. Councilor Mark Barlow (D-North District) said landlords and small business owners need to be consulted.
Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District) said those groups would be invited to participate in committee discussions. Sending the item to committee, Grant said, is “the bare minimum that we could do.”
Councilor Buddy Singh (D-South District) said he couldn’t support referring the item because it’s not part of a larger economic development plan. He said tax relief should be tied to growth both in the grand list and the city’s housing supply.
“Doing this as a singular resolution doesn’t get to those things,” he said. “This in singularity doesn’t meet what we need going forward for this city, and it unduly impacts people trying to do commerce [and] renters.”
Councilors Singh, Barlow, Litwin and Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) all voted against sending the measure to committee. Fellow Democrats Sarah Carpenter (D-Ward 4) and Allie Schachter (D-East District) joined all five Progressives in voting yes. Councilor Becca Brown McKnight (D-Ward 6) was absent.
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