Submitted
By Julia Purdy, North Clarendon
No doubt about it, Governor Scott has his finger on the pulse of everyday Vermonters. He is one of us.
Governor Scott’s budget address to the Vermont Legislature Jan. 25 continued where his State of the State speech left off, continuing the theme of “affordability, public safety, and at the center of it all, housing.”
His opening salvo specifically acknowledged that the Legislature’s supermajority didn’t “have to listen, or even consider, my priorities or objections,” but he stressed that “To meet this moment, we are going to have to prioritize, set aside good things that are less urgent, and rise above the toxic polarization of America’s political parties to focus our work directly on these fundamental issues.”
Apart from presenting get, his speech also had a twofold message: to Vermonters of all walks that he has their back, and a charge to the Legislature to overcome partisan politics and be prepared to embrace the acclaimed Vermont habit of frugality and living within one’s means.
Governor Scott knows his state and he knows Vermonters — those who have stayed through thick and thin, and kept the state going, at times despite daunting odds. Scott wanted to make it known that he has their back in these tough times.
On his proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, Scott boiled the issues down.
“I bet many of you do hear, and maybe even share, some of my concerns. More importantly, I’m pretty sure the majority of our constituents certainly do. So let’s put them first by doing the hard work to fix — not just fund — the problems they face, put party labels aside, and listen to each other so we help our communities, just like the Vermonters I highlighted in the State of the State helped theirs.
“This work, especially when it comes to affordability, starts with the budget I’m presenting, which totals $8.6 billion across all funds … It is what we can do within available revenue, without new or higher taxes and fees. …To me, it does matter how much money we have. Because every penny we spend comes out of the pockets of the people who live, work and invest in Vermont.”
“And we hear from them all the time, with stories of desperation and fear. The very people I know many of you are trying to help, who want to do their part, but they’re being crushed by the burden of property taxes, or the higher rents that come with it. As well as by increased fees, just to renew a license and register a vehicle. Or the looming payroll tax and the unknown of higher fuel and electricity costs — not to mention inflation. I truly believe most of us want to help people — it’s who we are. But burdening them with more taxes, fees and other costs, is not the way to do it. Especially when they have less expensive options.”
Governor Scott proceeded to itemize the heavy demands on the public purse: the 13% increase in the 2024 budget over his veto; an unexpected FEMA match; and the first payment due to settle the EB-5 scandal of 2015 — $9.5 million.
“Nearly all the additional revenue is needed just to sustain our core services and programs,” he continued, including $24.7 million for the existing hotel/motel program, employee salaries and benefits (“$10 million more than last year”) plus increased payment for pensions; deficits in E911 and fire safety; and another bridge payment to subsidize Vermont State University.
“So now,” he explained, “the added money doesn’t necessarily bring better outcomes or more services, it just keeps us afloat. … When we spend beyond our means, it catches up to us, and ultimately with taxpayers. And when we fail to address the fundamentals of decades-old problems, they get worse, making it harder to find money to catch up.
“Before the pandemic we saw that disciplined budgeting, without higher taxes, resulted in organic revenue increases, which is the real and lasting economic growth we need to support more public investments.
“At a minimum, we need to address the factors that fuel these increases year after year, even if it won’t reduce costs this year. I truly believe if we’d acted on any of the proposals I put forward in 2017, or 2018, or 2019, we’d be better off today.”
Scott then moved on to the issue of public safety, the drug/overdose epidemic specifically.
“I wish I had better anticipated the challenge of implementing laws to raise the age of criminal accountability,” he said. “Because we weren’t ready. … We put the policy idea ahead of the fundamentals, the real work of actually helping our youth. … Like many other areas, we moved too far and too fast into a policy experiment. And we didn’t plan for, or build, the system needed to address extreme cases, or have the workforce to support it. We focused so much on our well-intentioned goals that we didn’t think through all the possible consequences. Like what adding older, more violent youth to DCF caseloads would do. Or how traffickers would exploit young adults to run their deadliest drugs and expand their markets in Vermont.”
After ticking off a specific examples of repeat offenders taking advantage of lenient release conditions, he continued:
“It includes repealing 2018 bail changes and increasing accountability for those who violate conditions of release. I’ll ask you to adjust the ‘Raise the Age’ thresholds to make sure we have the systems and tools in place before we take the next step. I’ll also ask you to add to the list of violent crimes which allow prosecution of a juvenile to start in criminal court, and move to a system of universal sealing, rather than expunging, records, so we give people a second chance, but also hold repeat offenders accountable. And we need to continue talking about a secure facility for those who are mentally ill and a danger to the community, and a process to restore competency when possible — building on our previous collaboration.”
Then he turned to the housing crisis, changing tax policy and zoning ordinances, including Act 250, to incentivize the conversion of “abandoned or rundown properties back into good homes for low- and middle-income working families” and “brighten up neighborhoods.”
“You see, our communities and all those looking for, or struggling to afford, a decent home — they don’t have the lobbyists, the money, or the time to push back on the campaigns we’ve already started to see, to keep you from taking action.
“So those everyday Vermonters need us to represent them, over the special interests. They need us to withstand the pressure, make the right choices and have the courage to act, so they too can afford a home, and a life, here in our beautiful state.
“I don’t think there will be a lot of disagreement about what’s in this budget. The disagreement will lie in what’s not in it. But pretending we can fund everything isn’t realistic.
“We have to be honest, just pushing more and more money at problems and needs, hasn’t always equaled progress. Not in education, pensions, state colleges, housing, homelessness, and other areas where we’ve funded, but have not fixed, the problem.”
Scott ended on the note of collaboration. “A middle majority of this Legislature can help Vermont find the sweet spot, where we do the hard policy work and invest in the things that help people, without pushing them further behind, or making it too expensive for young workers to get started here, and without forcing our anchor employers out of state, or ‘Main Street’ mom and pops out of business.
“I’m not even asking you to cross the aisle, which I’ve done for over 20 years. I’m just asking you to meet me in the middle.”
