UVM?s Greek community can breath a little easier now that the possibility of losing their houses may be over.?We?re really relieved that at least for now we won?t have to put more effort into that,? said sophomore Lauren Giery, president of sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. Vermont?s House Ways and Means committee officially voted, on Monday, to remove language from the bill that would remove property tax exemption given to the property owned by fraternities and sororities at UVM, according to WCAX.The bill, S.221, which is making its way through the Vermont legislature, would have made all Greek life houses at UVM no longer exempt from property tax as of July 1. ?The presidents and our members were blindsided by the bill,? Giery said.Greek life houses have previously been exempt from property taxes due to the fact that the houses are owned by housing corporations that are nonprofits,? said junior Ty Williams, president of fraternity Phi Gamma Delta. This isn?t the first time such ideas have been presented. Removal of the tax exemption has been included in past bills in the past as well, the last time being 14 years ago. ?The issue has come to the surface maybe four times since I?ve been at UVM,? said Pat Brown, director of student life. ?I think it?ll be intersesting to see where it goes.?Tim Ashe, senate finance committee chairman, introduced the bill March 15 and said he believes the cost is ?fair,? and that it would cause Greek life members to now pay about $160,000, according to a WCAX article April 20. The Cynic reached out to Ashe for comment, but he was unavailable before print.The Cynic has also independently calculated the final property tax amount for the 10 properties owned by the Greek organizations at UVM. Both the Tax Expenditures Report and the Cynic used property values provided by the grand list?s data. ?My assumption is that they [property values] are reasonable,? Vickery said. The Cynic found that the collective property taxes for all Greek properties would be more than $265,000, as opposed to the Tax Expenditures Report estimate of $160,000, which was cited by Ashe. The Cynic?s exact findings can be viewed at www.vermontcynic.com. ?That would not surprise me,? State representative Kesha Ram said, when asked about the $105,000 disparity. The report draws data from three different organizations. The joint fiscal office, the state tax department and the municipalities. Somewhere between those three organizations ?things are going to get lost,? Ram said.?To me, that?s all the better reason to make sure we have the right data before we make a decision,? she said.Various members of the UVM Greek community said this is an ?overwhelming expense,? and may have forced them to sell their houses. They also said that it would be ?impossible to justify raising dues or rent to pay for the houses,? Williams said. ?These houses are the life and blood of our organizations, and they?re the main reason we exist as groups,? Williams said.Whether the loss of houses would eliminate UVM Greek life is a point of debate amongst members of the Greek community at the University.?It definitely was cause for concern,? said senior Madeline Buckley, president the PanHellenic council. ?However, losing our houses would not cause fraternity and sorority life to cease to exist,? she said.Upon learning of the bills passage in the senate last week, members of the Greek community made sure their voices were heard. ?We mobilized pretty quickly,? Buckley said. Dozens of UVM?s fraternity and sorority members ?took action? by going to the State House April 16.The group spoke about how this language will affect the whole University community, SGA President Aya Al-Namee said. ?It became more serious than we anticipated,? she said. Junior Emily Chamberlin, a member of sorority Alpha Chi Omega , created a petition April 14 in hopes of stopping this bill from passing, according to her MoveOn.org petition. At this time, there are more than 4,800 signatures. ?If you consider this from a philanthropic standpoint, we?re contribuiting half a million dollars a year to the community,? Williams said. ?Without these houses, I don?t think we would be able to continue doing this great work,? he said.?Even if the bill changes in the House Ways and Means Committee, anything can happen on the house floor,? Ram said. Ashe cited the 2013 Tax Expenditures Report in his claim, a report created for legislators to determine the possible revenue from tax-exempt properties across the state.Since property taxes are dependent on the property value, every Greek property would need to be appraised to determine their true property value, and thus determine how much each chapter would owe in taxes. 12