This week the House Commerce Committee took up bill (H.498) pertaining to private roads. This bill dictates that all property owners who use a private road to access their property, in the absence of a written maintenance agreement, the maintenance costs shall be divided equally among the owners of the property.
What this bill does is put a default agreement in place for how private roads will be maintained, in situations where no agreement has yet to be formalized. This bill does not limit the ability of land owners to reach such agreements on their own, or prohibit them from making changes to agreements in existence. This bill rather provides a default position for when agreements don’t exist or cannot be reached.
The impetus behind this bill is the secondary loan market; both Fannie and Freddie are requiring proof of a maintenance agreement for properties located on private roads before buying those mortgages.
This coming Thursday January 28th we will be holding our annual legislative day.
If your schedule permits come on down and join us for a day in Montpelier. We have what should make for an interesting day planned with economists giving us a forecast into the future of Vermont fiscal outlook, and as always we will be joining our legislators for lunch.
We look foreword to seeing you all there. For more information about legislative day please follow this link http://www.vtrealtor.com/article/articleview/15130/
The Governor gave his final budget address on Tuesday of this week. Governor Douglas renewed his call for tough choices and belt tightening to be the focus of this year’s budget process. Lawmakers are faced with a 150 million shortfall in state revenues and many long-term liabilities and entitlements are becoming serious burdens on the states general fund. The Governor cited many areas of government with overlapping missions and goals that could be consolidated to save on overhead costs. The Governor also asked for a renewed effort to curb education spending, proposing teachers pay up to 20% of there health care premiums.
Governor Douglas again called for a repeal of last years increase to the estate tax, as well as putting a 2012 sunset on the increase to the capital gains tax.
The Emergency Finance Board met this week and delivered their highly anticipated economic forecast for Vermont. Some good news for legislators is that revenue projections improved by 5 million, which compared to the 150 million in total revenue shortfall is small, but it’s not insignificant. This could be an indicator we have reached the point where the recession is ending and recovery is beginning. Economists highlighted Vermont housing market which is not as bad as most of the country as a positive, but where quick to point out that unemployment, the personal credit crunch, and regulatory uncertainty are all factors slowing the economic rebound.
The House Bill h.485, which has seen considerable discussion in numerous committees so far, proposes changes to the use value (or current use) property tax program. Currently farm and forest land parcels which qualify for the program pay a reduced property tax bill based on the value of the land under its current use. A landowner will give up things like development rights in order to participate. Changes being discussed include, increasing the penalties for withdrawing property out of the program, as well as a moratorium on new applicants to the program.
The House Committee on Fish Wildlife and Water Resources continued their review of Bill H.323 pertaining to riparian buffer zones. The bill H.323 would require the establishment of a 50-foot buffer zone adjacent to navigable waters of the state. This bill would task the Agency of Natural Resources with enforcing these requirements beginning July 1st 2014. The committee is looking into the scope and impact both environmentally and economically these changes would have on Vermonters. The committee has heard testimony from numerous interested parties including landowners and environmentalists, as well as many government agencies.
The Senate Natural Resources Committee took up discussion on bill (S.99) which pertains to rural growth and development. This bill received quite a bit of attention last year and will likely draw much debate again this year as well. The committee is reviewing the impacts this bill could have on both the environment as well as future economic development statewide.
Specifically this bill proposes to amend the Act 250 criteria pertaining to traffic and scattered development, namely Criteria 5 Criteria 9H and 9L. Criteria 5 pertains to traffic and congestion, the proposed changes would charge developers with making connections from their development to existing or planned walkways and bikeways, in order to promote alternate modes of travel.
Criteria 9H takes into account the economic benefits and costs of a development outside an existing settlement. The change would ask that the cumulative impacts be weighed. This change could have the effect of making many parcels and areas unable to be developed, and limit future growth and development.
Criteria 9L changes are focused on determining appropriate development densities for areas outside of existing settlements. There is also a strong focus on strip development. The bill would require new development to not promote a pattern of strip development, and to promote compact in fill site design.