Vermont Statutes Title 10 Sec. 6306
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 10 Sec. 6306
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
- following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
- Qualified organization: means :
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
- State agency: means the Agency of Natural Resources or any of its departments, Agency of Transportation, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, or Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. See
- tax: means ad valorem taxes levied by the State and its municipalities. See
- Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
§ 6306. Exemption from taxation
(a) The rights and interests in real property acquired by a municipality or State agency under the authority of this chapter shall be considered as municipal or State-owned land, as the case may be, with respect to taxation and State reimbursement in lieu of taxes.
(b)(1) The Commissioner of Taxes may certify that real property acquired by a qualified organization under this chapter is being held and maintained for the purposes expressed in section 6301 of this title. As a condition of that certification, the Commissioner may require that the qualified organization provide adequate assurances that the property is being so held and maintained, including written agreements with the Department of Taxes, deeds, covenants, or other conveyances. Property that is so certified:
(A) if in the nature of an interest in fee simple, shall be assessed on the basis of its actual use or may be enrolled by the qualifying organization in a current use program under 32 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 124; or
(B) shall be exempt from assessment and taxation, if in the nature of an interest other than fee simple.
(2) For purposes of this section, where a qualified organization holds a lease in the property for a term greater than ten years, including renewal terms, or holds such other interests as the Commissioner shall determine to be substantially equivalent to an interest in fee simple, the organization shall be deemed to hold an interest in fee simple.
(3) A certification granted to a qualified agency shall first affect the April 1 grand list following the date that all information deemed necessary by the Commissioner has been provided by the qualified organization.
(c) After acquisition by a municipality, State agency, or qualified organization of a right or interest in real property under the authority of this chapter, the owner of any remaining right or interest in the real property not so acquired shall be taxed, under the applicable provisions of 32 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 123, only upon the value of those remaining rights or interests to which he or she retains title. The State agency or qualified organization, and the Department of Taxes, shall cooperate with that owner and with the town assessing such tax in the determination of the fair market value of any such remaining right or interest.
(d) Property held by a qualified organization and taxed or exempted under subsection (b) of this section shall be subject to a conversion tax if the Commissioner determines that it is no longer being held and maintained for the purposes expressed in section 6301 of this title. The amount of the conversion tax shall be five times the amount of the taxes avoided by reason of the exemption in the most recent year. The conversion tax shall be paid to the municipality in which the property is located. (Added 1969, No. 229 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; amended 1987, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 45; 1997, No. 60, § 68c; 2013, No. 73, § 26, eff. June 5, 2013; 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 22.)