By Curt Peterson
It shouldn’t be surprising that Phil Scott, “America’s most popular governor,” can easily pack a venue as large as Rutland’s Southside Steak House, but at 7:30 in the morning empty seats were already hard to find at the Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region (CEDRR) Legislative Breakfast, Monday morning, June 30.
The governor focused his beginning remarks on the “new improved balance” in the Vermont Legislature — “No more super-majority” enabling Democrats and Progressives to override his vetoes of bills he thought were ill-advised.
“We’re still the minority, but now we at least have a seat at the table, and our voices are being heard,” Scott said.
He outlined four major areas where he and his cabinet hope to improve with real negotiations with legislators: public safety, affordability, housing and education.
He laments that 2024 is the third year in a row that the state saw 20 or more homicides in Vermont. He believes the current system of allowing suspects to go free until their trial (a.k.a. “Catch and Release Policing”) is a failure, putting felons back on the streets.
Scott promised $13.5 million will be used to control tax burdens, and military pensions will be exempt from taxation as income.
He highlighted three areas where the administration is confronting a dearth of housing. First, he said, the state is going to be investing in infrastructure to make creation of housing easier and more practical. Second, he touted Tax Incentive Funding (TIFs) that supports funding for larger housing development in qualified towns on the basis that resulting additional tax revenue will reimburse the investment.
“Each county is able to create two TIF districts,” Scott said. “We have one in Rutland, and another in Killington.”
Third, the governor also hopes to find regulatory relief for builders and developers, believing that current requirements for building housing are a giant impediment.
Education is on everyone’s mind, for various reasons. 2024 saw some devastating education tax increases across the state, and there has been constant pressure on the Legislature to find a way to finance education that doesn’t overburden taxpayers. A controversial bill, H.454, is the result of lawmakers’ and the governor’s efforts.
“The current system is failing our kids,” Scott said. “We spend $2.3 billion on educating 80,000 kids. It’s both inefficient and unsuccessful. We need drastic change.”
He calculates the current 119 individual school districts in Vermont should be consolidated into between five and 12 new districts. Acknowledging parents’ concerns about children having to endure long bus rides, Scott added: “We’ll have higher teacher pay, more and better after-school programs, bigger classes and bigger schools,” he said. “These will be big changes, but they won’t happen in a day — ultimately it will take years.”
The basic issue is demographics, according to the governor. He reported that the number of Vermonters under 18 has decreased by 14,000 in the past 10 years. Likewise, residents between 40 and 55 are now 40,000 fewer, but the group over 65 has grown by 60,000.
Mountain Times publisher Polly Mikula sent along a question for the governor: “Given that taxpayers in ALL school districts in Rutland County currently allocate less — sometimes far less — than the foundation amount per pupil in H.454, won’t this mean that Rutland County taxpayers will see a tax increase as a result of this bill?”
“Not necessarily,” Scott answered. “Consolidation and the other changes that affect education financing may take two or more years to become reality.”
In the meantime local voters will have to relinquish control over their school budgets and the mechanics of consolidation, he said.
“If local voters retain control, they would not let consolidation happen,” he said. “And we’ll invest in schools once we know where they are.”
