The Board of Abatement is comprised of the Board of Civil Authority (Justices of the Peace, Town Clerk, Selectboard) plus the Listers and Treasurer. This amounts to 22 positions covered by 20 people in Norwich. The abatement process is governed by statute, so before you request an abatement hearing please read the About Abatement booklet and make sure that your request falls into one of the statutory abatement request categories listed below:
24 V.S.A. § 1535 Abatement
(a) The board may abate in whole or part taxes, water charges, sewer charges, interest, or collection fees, or any combination of those, other than those arising out of a corrected classification of homestead or nonhomestead property, accruing to the town in the following cases:
(1) taxes or charges of persons who have died insolvent;
(2) taxes or charges of persons who have moved from the State;
(3) taxes or charges of persons who are unable to pay their taxes or charges, interest, and collection fees;
(4) taxes in which there is manifest error or a mistake of the listers;
(5) taxes or charges upon real or personal property lost or destroyed during the tax year;
(6) the exemption amount available under 32 V.S.A. § 3802(11) to persons otherwise eligible for exemption who file a claim on or after May 1 but before October 1 due to the claimant’s sickness or disability or other good cause as determined by the board of abatement; but that exemption amount shall be reduced by 20 percent of the total exemption for each month or portion of a month the claim is late filed;
(7) and (8) repealed
(9) taxes or charges upon a mobile home moved from the town during the tax year as a result of a change in use of the mobile home park land or parts thereof or closure of the mobile home park in which the mobile home was sited, pursuant to 10 V.S.A. § 6237.
We cannot abate because you forgot to pay taxes, mis-printed the amount, or your bank did not mail the check in time to meet town deadlines. If you would still like to request an abatement hearing, please fill out this form and bring it to the Town Clerk.