More money becomes available, payment deadlines extended

By Sen. Allison Clarkson

Thankfully as a result of Vermonters adopting “Stay Home, Stay Safe” and practicing public health safety measures — social distancing, wearing face masks and gloves — the spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed significantly in Vermont. The growth rate in new Covid-19 cases is lower and the number of people in the hospital is stable. These results enable the governor to gingerly begin to open the spigot of our economy. As restrictions are eased, I urge people to follow public health safety practices — because if infections spike, we could overwhelm our health care system and have to close back down again. The successful reopening of Vermont’s economy rests with us.

For those of you dealing with the frustrations of a Department of Labor overwhelmed by over 70,000 Unemployment Insurance claim applications, I applaud your patience. By this time I hope that your claims have been accepted, that the issues which may have complicated your application have been resolved and that benefit checks have begun to arrive. It has been an anxious time for many Vermonters — and it was terrible to have it exacerbated by DOL’s 30 year old main frame and understaffing. Now, with over 200 people working in their call center and a new IT vendor helping to facilitate the new influx to UI of 40-50,000 self employed and independent contractors — we expect the claimant experience will be much improved.

Last Friday, people who are self employed or independent contractors were finally able to file the application for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (the $600 federal enhancement) on line. Benefits will be retro-active to March 15. To calculate their benefit, self-employed claimants have to upload their 2019 tax return. If they haven’t yet filed their returns, they are eligible for the minimum UI benefit ($191) plus the $600 enhanced PUA, for a total of $791/week. Once their tax returns are uploaded, the department will review and adjust their benefits.

Last week, the Senate Economic Development Committee voted to allow the presumption of compensability of Covid-19 related claims for Workers Compensation during the emergency period for certain frontline workers. This will make Worker’s Comp more available to workers who get Covid-19. To be covered, workers will have to have had a heightened risk of infection. And while the claims will be rebuttable, the presumption will be that the disease was contracted on the job.

Our Senate Government Operations Committee passed a bill which would, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, temporarily empower local legislative bodies to: 1) extend the deadline for payment of property taxes; 2) reduce or waive penalties, interest, and fees for late payment of property taxes; and 3) adjust the municipal tax rate for the calendar year 2020. This is intended to give towns flexibility in dealing with one of the biggest financial obligations most Vermonters face. Provision 1 and 2 cover both state-wide education and municipal property tax. However, an equally important issue we still need to address is the penalty towns pay to the state if their education fund payments are short or late.

Clarkson can be reached by email aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us or by phone at 457-4627. For more information on the Vermont Legislature visit legislature.vermont.gov.