The House Ways and Means Committee has approved its solution to provide the funding required for H.35, the headline water quality bill making its way through the Legislature.
On March 19, the committee added an increase in the property transfer tax of about $6 million about $2.3 million in increased fees on developers, towns and farmers. It also added back to the bill a penalty on farmers who don’t follow best practices on water quality protection, denying them access to current-use property tax reductions. That piece had been removed when the bill went through the Agriculture Committee.
The increase in the property transfer tax is the largest source of clean water funding lawmakers have approved this session. It would raise approximately $6 million per year for the state’s newly created Clean Water Fund.
“I think there is a commitment in the public generally and there is definitely a commitment in this building to make the investments we need to make to clean up Lake Champlain and other fragile waterways. We’re going to do that,” said Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
All of the revenue sources adopted by Ways and Means have their detractors. But just about everyone recognizes that the Legislature, one way or another, needs to capitalize on the momentum for protecting water quality in Montpelier and elsewhere.
The state should be raising money now while water quality is a salient issue in the minds of lawmakers and the general public, according to Lauren Hierl, who is the political director for Vermont Conservation Voters.
“We need to make the commitment now. This is the year to do it and get these dedicated revenue streams on the books so we don’t have to come back next year and fight for clean water,” Hierl said.
Exactly.
Life on the Lake 