Committee reviews H.957 to replace Williston’s elected listers with assessor-led model

The House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs met May 7 to consider H.957, a charter amendment for the town of Williston that would eliminate the elected board of listers and move property-assessment authority to a professional assessor model.

Representative Bridget Burkhart, the sponsor, told the committee she introduced the measure after Williston voters approved the change at town meeting. "Voters approved the change on town meeting day this year, by a margin of about 68% in favor to 32% unfavorable," Representative Burkhart said, and argued the shift aligns Williston with most Chittenden County municipalities.

The bill, which legislative counsel Tim Youngblood described as a brief, four-page charter amendment placed in the appendices of Title 24 (chapter 171), removes listers from the list of elected local officials and deletes the charter language describing lister duties. Youngblood said the draft adds a new section establishing that "the town shall employ or contract with one or more professionally qualified assessors" and includes training expectations tied to applicable state requirements. He also described a transition rule in the bill: "the term of office of any lister in office in the town of Williston shall expire 45 days after the passage of this act or upon the day on which the assessor is employed or contracted in accordance to that new charter provision," and said the act's effective date is on passage.

Members asked how H.957 would interact with separate Ways and Means work on regional assessment districts. Youngblood said he was unfamiliar with the Ways and Means measure and would consult colleagues; Eric Wells, Williston's town manager, told the committee the change is primarily operational and would not eliminate the town’s need for assessor staff. "We employ an assessor and a part time assessor right now who do that day to day work," Wells said, adding that the town plans to work with a contracted reappraisal firm for an upcoming reappraisal and that current elected listers supported the change because commercial appeals have become more complex.

A committee member asked for the town-meeting vote totals; Wells read figures supplied by the clerk: "Yeses for 1560, and those were 727 on article 17." The committee chair noted supporting materials were available in the committee SharePoint packet and said members would later decide whether to continue work on the bill or set it up for a committee vote. The committee recessed for lunch with no further public testimony or formal action recorded.

Next steps: the committee will determine whether to schedule further work or place H.957 on an upcoming committee vote.