Franks v. Town of Essex, Rockingham Area Community Land Trust v. Town of Rockingham

¶ 1. These cases raise the question of how nonrental residential properties subject to housing-subsidy covenants should be valued for property-tax purposes. Taxpayers in both cases contend that the governing statute mandates an automatic reduction in valuation for properties subject to these covenants or, what is effectively equivalent, a mandatory tax exemption on a portion of the property’s value. The towns in which these properties are located contend instead that the statute, 32 V.S.A. § 3481, requires that municipal listers give individualized consideration to the effect, if any, these…