When an 8-cent property tax break isn’t 8 cents

Vermont’s education finance manager, Brad James. File photo by Hilary Niles/VTDiggerTowns rushing to get school district mergers approved before a Nov. 30 deadline have one more incentive: the potentially $80 million hole in the education fund that threatens to raise tax rates 8 cents. Even if that increase washes out the 8-cent tax break towns can get by beating the deadline, they still end up better off than districts that aren’t merging.
“Will an overall rate increase of 8 c