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"The Vermont House has advanced legislation that's slated to bring a sharp increase in the statewide school property tax rates.Wednesday's debate concerned a 5-cent increase in the statewide residential property tax rate, to 94 cents per $100 of a home's value.The non-residential rate on second homes and commercial properties would go from $1.38 to $1.44 per $100 of the property's value.Lawmakers blame rising costs, declining student enrollments and declining property values as contributing to the increases.Gov. Peter Shumlin said Montpelier has little control over the cost of education -- only how it's paid for.\"I hope Vermonters at Town Meeting, when they vote their school budgets, will send a clear message to school boards and to local communities that we've got to find ways to curb the unsustainable rising \u00A0costs of education,\" Shumlin said.\u00A0But some House members blasted the tax increase and labeled Vermont's complex school funding system broken and in need of a major overhaul.\u00A0The bill won preliminary approval on a vote of 96-45 . It's up for final House action Thursday before moving to the Senate."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/vt-house-approves-property-tax-increase-for-schools/3307472>