Listers' Office - Hartland, Vermont

Pasture View

The Hartland Board of Listers
(The Listers office is located in the lower level of Damon Hall)

Stacey M. Bradley, Chairperson

E911 Address Coordinator

sbradley@hartlandvt.org

cell phone: 802-236-9474

Cheyenne Latimer, Secretary

clatimer@hartlandvt.org

Bob Quaderer

bquaderer@hartlandvt.org

Regular Office Hours: Monday: 8:00 AM - 12:00 noon & Wednesday: 8:00 AM - 12:00 noon or by appointment

During regular Town Hall business hours (M-F 8-4) walk-ins are welcome. Please be advised that assessment duties sometimes require us to work outside of our office. As such we recommend calling ahead of time and making an appointment to be sure that one of us is available in the office to assist you. Should no one be available in the office, you can leave a message on our office phone, call Stacey's cell phone number posted above (leave a message if no answer), or send us an email and we will generally get back to you as soon as we can.

Office Phone: 802-436-4292

Shared Office Email: assessment@hartlandvt.org (For the fastest response, we recommend using this email address.)

Mailing Address: PO Box 349, Hartland, VT 05048-0349

CLA Discussion
Document Presented to the Selectboard April 15^th 2024
Link to Presentation Document

Common Level of Appraisal & Coefficient of Dispersion:
How This Information is used by the State Department of Taxes

At the end of the year, the Board of Listers received the State 2023 Equalization Study results which analyzed the last three years of valid sales to calculate the 2023 CLA and COD. The town’s Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) is 69.0%, indicating Hartland property is assessed at 31.0% below fair market value. The town’s Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) is 26.30%, indicating that some taxpayers are paying far less than their fair share while others are paying far more than their fair share. The COD over 20% triggered the State order to conduct a reappraisal as soon as possible. The Listers are working to comply and in 2024 will be issuing a Request For Proposal (RFP) seeking a town wide reappraisal contractor. The challenge is many Vermont towns are under reappraisal orders and there are not enough reappraisal companies to do the work. Nearly every appraisal company is booked through 2027 and most are not accepting any new RFPS for the next year. Nonetheless, the Listers will continue the search. Until the next reappraisal is completed, the town will have to endure the impact of a low CLA and high COD. One can only hope that over the course of the coming year, the state will find a viable and equitable solution to this difficult situation many towns and property owners are facing.

Board of Listers Meeting

Meeting was held on Monday, April 8^th 2024 at 9:30 am
Link to Minutes Document

Board of Listers Organizational Meeting

Meeting was held on Monday, March 18, 2024, at 11:00 am
Link to Minutes Document

Important Homestead Declaration Information

With the April 15th Income Tax deadline fast approaching, the Board would like to remind qualifying resident property owners about filing a homestead declaration. If you consider your Hartland property to be your primary residence and you meet the criteria, then you may be required by VT State law to file a homestead declaration. Do not forget to check and see if you are eligible for a property tax credit which would be applied to your 2024-2025 tax bill. About 75% of Vermont resident property owners qualify for homestead tax credit based on their previous year’s household income. Homestead declarations (HS-122) and property tax credit claims (HI-144) can be filed electronically online at the myvtax.vt.gov website. Forms, instructions and information, including how to amend a property tax credit claim and how to withdraw a filed homestead declaration, can be found at: https://tax.vermont.gov/property-owners/homestead-declaration. You can also contact the Listers’ Office for a paper copy of these forms and find links to the forms and state site on the Listers’ page at the Hartland Town website.

Please be aware that the state does not give extensions for filing a homestead declaration after April 15th. Any homestead declaration filed after this deadline is considered late and will result in an 8% penalty applied to your property tax bill. On a $5,000 property tax bill, this could result in a $400 late filer penalty. So, if your property qualifies, please be sure to file a homestead declaration no later than April 15th to avoid getting hit with a late filer penalty fee. Filing your homestead declaration can be done separately from the filing of your federal and state income tax returns. Declarations filed on time can later be amended if needed be, without incurring the penalty.

State Legislature Act 68 Update

The state legislature in Montpelier passed Act 68 (2023), a bill relating to property valuation and reappraisals for tax purposes. Effective July 1st, 2023, this bill removed the CLA as a trigger for state ordered reappraisals (Common Level of Appraisal measures the difference between current market values and assessed values) but kept the COD exceeding 20% as a trigger (Coefficient of Dispersion measures assessment equity among properties). This bill also requires all towns to conduct a town wide reappraisal every 6 years on a schedule set by the VT Department of Taxes PVR Director. A key component of Act 68 seeks to have the state take over the process of reappraising property for tax purposes. The Board has serious concerns about how this shift will impact property owners and the town’s main financial source, the grand list. As the study for Act 68 is completed, and recommended changes to Vermont’s property valuation and tax appeals system are made, the listers will closely follow the process.

Mailing Address/Name Changes

If your mailing address or name has changed, please let us know!

Mailing Address and Name Change forms can be found here.