Hi Illana,
Non-competitive inhibitors lower Vmax because they cannot be overcome by adding more enzyme. However, they do not lower the affinity of the enzyme for the substrate, so that Km remains the same. Remember the Km is the concentration of substrate at 1/2 Vmax, it is really just a measure of how quickly the enzyme gets to half of its full capacity to catalyze reaction.
Here is a series of graphs that may help if the prep books aren’t able to clarify for you.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uc...b/enzass/inhibition.htm
Let me know if you need any more clarification,
Meg