As a result, gold towns have had to decide between cutting school spending or raising the tax rates to compensate for the lost revenue. The shark pool prompted a lawsuit brought on behalf of two Stowe schoolchildren in which the plaintiff argued that Act 60 would be detrimental to the students' education. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in January of 1998. Other towns also took the state to court over Act 60. Cases are still pending, but no court has ruled against Act 60 yet.
Some people hope to see that trend change.
One of them is Dwyer, who said the law doesn't conform to the Supreme Court decision. With tax sharing, the spending decisions of one town will affect the tax rates of another, she said. That money comes from gold towns. Dwyer predicts the resulting effect of tax sharing will be disastrous. Meanwhile, spending levels decrease in gold towns, where citizens are overtaxed as a result of the poor towns' spending.