"Our democracy, it is said, is not something we have, but something we do. And right now, we cannot do it because we cannot speak. We are shouted down by the bullhorns of big money. It is money with no manners for democracy. It is too loud and too ready to lie for its purposes."

— Granny D

House Passes FY2011 Budget

Submitted by Rep. Sandy Haas on Mon, 2010-03-29 01:00
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After months of worries about how to close the $154 million budget gap, the House passed a balanced budget last week. H.789 represents an impressive effort at preserving state services in very difficult economic times. Although some of us have argued for increasing revenues, it was clear that we would have no support in the Senate (where much of the leadership is focused on the governor’s race).

The House Appropriations Committee took input from other committees of jurisdiction regarding the cuts proposed by Governor Douglas. Because the Agency of Human Services was targeted for significant cuts, the Human Services committee spent weeks taking testimony on the various programs that were threatened. We advocated for continued funding of programs that keep people in their homes, foster independence and preserve the network of local providers who work with Vermonters day-to-day. The final bill reflects virtually all of our priorities.

But the conversation is far from over. First, the Senate gets to take its turn now with the budget bill. Second, we still must examine the details of the $38 million savings that are part of the Challenges for Change. This was passed earlier as a separate bill, with only the “savings” booked in the budget. More than half of the projected savings from the Challenges will be absorbed by the Agency of Human Services (which also includes the Department of Corrections). On March 30th, the legislature will hear the official proposals regarding how to save the money and improve service delivery.

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Your Tax Dollars at Work

Submitted by Doug Hoffer on Fri, 2010-03-26 13:25
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In the last three years, the VT Telecommunications Authority has received $1.6 million from the state for operational support. This is how they spent the money (figures from the VTA Annual Report). In less than 2.5 years (data through 11/09), the VTA spent $804,000 for salaries & benefits (four staff members); $610,000 for consulting; $115,000 for legal (Paul, Frank & Collins; certainly not the cheapest attorneys in VT); and $83,000 for office space at National Life (rent mind you; we're not buying it for goodness sake).  So glad the governor is committed to having state government live within its means. I wonder how many miles of fiber could have been installed for $1.6 million?

Energy Efficiency and Renewables at the Local Level

Submitted by Meg Brook on Fri, 2010-03-26 08:52
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About a year ago the South Burlington City Council created the South Burlington Energy Committee (SBEC) to "Promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and the use of renewable energy resources among the city's residents, businesses, and in municipal affairs." I found it incredibly exciting that a city would be having a conversation about how they can become less dependent on outside energy sources and I followed their progress to see if anything concrete would be accomplished. In the fall the SBEC launched our SWITCH campaign with a goal of educating South Burlington residents about the efficiency and variety of CFL bulbs and the cost savings that could be realized if 30,000 bulbs in our city were changed. I gladly took bundles of the informative door hangers and distributed them in many of our neighborhoods. Other residents did the same and, while I have yet to get a figure on how many people responded by changing bulbs, I felt a great sense of pride to participate in this activity that was planned by and for our town. This week South Burlington is in the spotlight again with a proposal for a 498-panel solar farm. You can read about the proposal and see all the plans at the City website but I wanted to share two points that I found exhilarating.
  1. Even in a small city that is quite populated we have found a way to integrate renewables into our development. I am encouraged that a positive idea has been developed instead of a list of all the things we can't do. Thank you!
  2. This project is part of Vermont's SPEED renewable energy program and requires the project benefit the local economy. Look at the proposal; the trackers are coming from Williston and the project leaders and other suppliers are all Vermont based. In addition, preparing the site and installing all the panels is going to create jobs right here in our community.
These are local based, exciting and forward thinking projects that can help Vermont on its path to energy independence. If this is happening in my community I'm sure there are other projects in the works. What is going on in your area to make your town more efficient and less dependent on fossil fuels?

Forcing Voluntary School Consolidation

Submitted by Morgan Daybell on Thu, 2010-03-25 08:57
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Vermonters are rightfully proud of the quality of education we provide from pre-K through High School. Just today, the BFP headline reads: "Vt reading scores top U.S." And apparently the House Education Committee has determined that we should no longer stand for it. The Committee has released H.782: "An act relating to a voluntary school district merger incentive program, supervisory union duties, and other education issues," championed by Rep. Peter Peltz.  While the claim is that the merger incentives are voluntary, there is a very big stick teeing up behind a very small carrot. The bill, if passed, would take away the authority of all local districts and school boards to do the following:
  • Set curriculum;
  • Hire staff;
  • Negotiate with teachers;
  • Determine professional development of staff;
  • Fire teachers, principals, and staff;
  • Provide Special Education services;
  • Buy supplies/textbooks;
  • Manage school buildings;
  • Write and receive grants;
  • Contract for student transportation; or
  • Contract food services.
The only duties left to local school boards are to rubber-stamp hiring decisions made at the Supervisory Union level, and to try to win approval of a those annual budgets, over which they no longer have any control. So yes, the mergers are technically voluntary. But the legislature is making an "offer you cannot refuse."  Local communities can choose to stay in their traditional districts, but where they do, the locally elected board will have about as much power as the local PTA. As a school board member, I hear from voters all the time. Nobody has complained to me that the voters, or the local boards, have too much influence.  They complain about decisions made in Washington and Montpelier  that drive the increases in our budgets.  They complain about how the legislature sets the property tax, and generally how we pay for education.  Taking education decisions away from our local schools and local voters will not address those two issues. But it will eventually change those headlines in the BFP.

Living with our means

Submitted by Doug Hoffer on Wed, 2010-03-24 21:28
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New data from the IRS provides a stark reminder of why the federal and state governments have less to spend these days. The data shows the income and effective tax rates for the Top 400 American households.  Note: The IRS first started publishing the data during the Clinton presidency but the Bush administration shut it down.  It is now available again. The data shows that in 2007 the average income of the Top 400 was $344.8 million.  Adjusted for 2009 dollars, this is a 399% increase from 1992 when the Top 400's average income was only $71.5 million.  [Note: This is not wealth or assets; just single year earnings.]  During the same period, the inflation adjusted average income of the bottom 90% grew a whopping 13%. At the same time, the Top 400 saw their effective tax rates decline by 37% (from 26.38% to 16.62%).  So on total income of $138 billion (remember, this is only 400 households), this group paid about $23 billion in taxes.  Had they paid at the 1992 rate, it would have been $36 billion.  That's a loss of $13 billion from just those 400 households; in one year. Is it any wonder governments are starved for money? And note that while this trend was unfolding, many Right wing Americans came to believe that their government was essentially confiscatory.  Furthermore, this massive shift occurred at the same time millions of American jobs were sent overseas. I encourage you to keep this in mind when Jim Douglas and Brian Dubie call for the reintroduction of the 40% capital gains exclusion. Source: David Cay Johnston for Tax Analysts, publishers of Tax Notes, Tax Notes Today, State Tax Notes, State Tax Today, Tax Notes International, and Worldwide Tax Daily.

What Do Folks Think About The Health Care Bill?

Submitted by Chris Pearson on Mon, 2010-03-22 22:21
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Is what Washington's done good? Bad? Revolutionary? Landmark? A total failure? Discuss...

Tax Bullseye on the Middle Class

Submitted by Rep. David Zuckerman on Fri, 2010-03-19 20:19
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On Thursday the House Ways and Means Committee passed the miscellaneous tax bill with a vote of 8-2-1. I was one of the two dissenting votes because in the drive to make a political score on property taxes (reduce them by $0.01 from the Governor’s recommendation), income sensitivity was reduced via a "soft cap" on housesite eligibility. The net effect was negligible for Vermont’s lowest income earners, an increase for many in the middle class, and a 1% reduction in property taxes for everyone with household income over $90,000.  It is simply a tax shift.  There are no increased revenues from "new sources" or an expanding economy; we simply changed who is paying. However, along the way, there are some who lose and some who win. The "soft cap" placed on housesite value means that eligible taxpayers will now pay their taxes by the following formula: taxes will be based on income for the first $425,000 of housesite value, and then the regular property tax rate will apply to any housesite value over $425,000.  The resulting revenue will be added to a few other small sources to reduce the overall homestead (and non-homestead) rates by one penny over the projected two cent increase, thus settling the actual increase over last year’s rate by 1 cent. One of the issues that the committee was trying to address is that some low and moderate income individuals live in very high value homes.  Some very wealthy and even high income individuals can manipulate their official income in order to qualify for income-sensitivity, when they really can afford to pay the total property tax bill.  While the goal was laudable, it was frustrating to see residential taxpayers' money used to lower the rate for the non-residential property tax.  It was also of concern that not all who are low income that live in high value homes actually fall into that definition. There was an alternative proposal offered by Rep. Steve Howard (D-Rutland) to delay, for one year,  the reduction in income taxes that was to take effect this year (for the top three brackets), and apply that revenue to lowering residential property taxes.  This was a solid proposal.  It would have more fairly reduced residential taxes across the board.  Sadly, the proposal lost on a committee vote of 5-6.  What is remarkable is that the Chair and Vice Chair of Ways and Means, Rep. Ancel (D-Calais) and Rep. Obuchowski (D-Rockingham), both voted to defeat the measure.  Had they instead voted with their fellow Democrats (and me), the proposal would have passed 7-4.  It was clear from the get go that this was defeated because of pressure from their leadership.  In other words, the policy preferred by Democratic leadership is to lower property taxes and income taxes for the wealthiest Vermonters, rather than hold the line on property taxes for all Vermonters. Another option that was briefly reviewed (but brought up too late to fully execute) was an asset test, so that people who claim low income but sit on significant wealth would not be eligible to pay based on income.  While there may not be a lot of people in this category (it is the group for whom the $425,000 soft cap was intended to target) it is an idea worth exploring.  It would not be easy to define, but in general the idea would be that on the homestead declaration there would be a box to check off that would indicate that one's net worth is not more than a certain figure (pick $1 or $1.5 million for instance).  If it is more than that, then one would be ineligible for income sensitivity.  Ultimately, if one has $800,000 in stocks, then one can afford to pay their property taxes based on the property value...even if they have to dip into savings.  Other Vermont taxpayers should not be paying more so that they can pay less. There were better options on the table. Sadly, the wealthiest Vermonters will see the greatest gain, while the working poor and middle class continue to struggle.

Capital Bill

Submitted by Rep. Susan Davis on Fri, 2010-03-19 01:00
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The Institutions and Corrections committee is winding down with the markup of the capital construction bill and expects to vote it out early next week. The Governor's recommendation for this year's Capital Appropriations is $72,178,958. As we continue to finalize the markup we will be looking at the dollar recommendations of the Governor for needed maintenance in state assets (buildings), the Military department buildings, recreational facilities and state parks, as well as recommendations for major maintenance dollars for the University of Vermont and State Colleges. The Governor recommends we continue to support reconstruction of the Bennington State Office building (building that was partially demolished after the sarcoidosis breakout), the State Health Lab in partnership with UVM, and to move ahead with the Vermont State Hospital and the construction of a 15-bed secure residential facility in Waterbury. This year the Governor is recommending over $12 million for information technology systems and for "furthering of broadband availability to our underserved areas of the State." Included in the Governor's recommendation is continuing our commitment to funding for the Clean and Clear (community drinking water and septic projects) at the Agency of Natural Resources and Agriculture.

As the committee goes through markup of the capital bill, we will be looking at the justifications that have been coordinated by the Agency of Administration with the appropriate state agencies and how the requests will not only affect this year’s issuance of bonds, but how the multi-year projects will affect the appropriation and reallocation of capital funds for authorization of the issuance of bonds in the future.

The capital bill also includes appropriations for bonding for community grant programs, housing, and land conservation. These programs are essential to Vermont's economic future. Land conservation is vital to our rural communities and farms across the state as it preserves our working landscape. Tourism is the largest sector in the state's economy; conservation on Vermont's open farm fields, woodlands and farmsteads is the third. Land conservation will create sustainable jobs into the future and helps our farmers to use their farmland for new innovative farming techniques, including timber forestry. It is very important to maintain funding in this section of the capital bill for our rural communities.

Given the millions of dollars in requests for Information Technology projects in this year’s capital bill we will no doubt be looking at innovative bonding capabilities like short term (3-5 years) bonding, revolving loan funds, etc., in addition to the capital appropriations request recommended by the Governor.

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Jim Equals Job Loss

Submitted by Doug Hoffer on Wed, 2010-03-17 09:13
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There he goes again. Burton's decision to move its manufacturing jobs to Austria led the Governor to say that taxes need to be rolled back. But the CEO said nothing about state taxes, which are a very small component of business costs. Of course we have no idea how much Burton pays, although we do know they received $1.8m in EATI/VEPC credits and were just awarded another $1.6m in VEGI/VEPC "incentives." The CEO did mention health care costs, which is ironic because Austria has a tax-based national health care system while the Governor continues to resist such an approach for Vermont.  For his part, the Governor said we need more "choices" which ignores the fact that Austria spends half as much per capita as we do on health care (and gets better results). Instead of listening to what the company said, the Governor went immediately to his canned talking points.  This bespeaks a lazy intellect and a rigid ideology that refuses (or is incapable) of seeing the world as it is.  We need leaders willing and able to analyze real problems instead of trying to fit everything into prefabricated boxes.  The former is about solving problems; the latter is about serving vested interests.

Healthcare Bill, Revised

Submitted by John Bloch on Tue, 2010-03-16 22:01
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Well, as Alice says as she walked in Wonderland: it gets curiouser and curiouser. And so it does with the saga of Senate Bill 88. First Mr. Racine says that he is inclined towards a single payer approach. Then he diddles with the old S.88 bill until it is all but unrecognizable, and calls for the expenditure of $300,000 to study and develop not one approach, but three. Others feel the cost will be more like a million to produce these studies. The more things change the more they remain the same. Back in the early 1990's, there were studies to address the health care mess and it cost in the neighborhood of $1.6 million. And that was some time ago.  The result of that effort was the call to study the problem more.  Meantime, health care costs continue to soar by about $385,000 a year so that the current level for health care spending in the state is at $5.2 Billion.  Yes, "billion." Meanwhile, both House and Senate health committees jawbone about cost savings and approaches to a completely broken system. It will be more than a little interesting to see just what all the candidates have to say about this issue in both the primaries and the general election. However, all the while this gabbing is going on, the total cost for health care in Vermont will continue to spiral out of control.  So what is the true cause for this delay in getting on with legislating a fixing the broken system? Some say it is so that Mr. Racine will have wiggle room in the upcoming elections.  Others say he is not really sold on the values of single payer is the only real tool to save in administrative costs and cap runaway costs. Or that the political cost is too great not only for himself, but other Democrats that are running for governor. So where is the $300,000 to come from for a government that says it is broke and facing a $150 million hole in the 2011 budget? Your guess is as good as anyone's on this question. Please write, call or email Mr. Racine and attempt to get an answer to the above questions.

Lawmakers set to focus talks on state

Submitted by Vermont Progres... on Sat, 2010-03-13 01:00
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March 13, 2010, the Brattleboro Reformer, by Chris Garofalo

’Safe Passing’ moves forward

The "Safe Passing" bill sponsored by Brattleboro Progressive Mollie Burke, a member of the House Transportation Committee, is moving forward.

After several hours of debating the measure, committee members unanimously supported the bill to move on to the House floor.

"I’m very pleased. It will come up for a second reading on Wednesday," said Burke. "We did a lot of due-diligence on this bill ... this bill generated quite a bit of interest around the state. Bicyclists and pedestrians alike are concerned about their safety, and this creates a platform to educate drivers, bicyclists and other users."

The measure, which requires motorists to proceed with greater caution when passing vulnerable users on highways and state roads, was supported by biking groups around the state.

"If you had been in the committee room [Thursday], I think you would have been proud of Vermont’s citizen legislators," said Nancy Schulz of the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition. "The committee took a very careful look at the bill and considered each section independently as they heard testimony from representatives of the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Motor Vehicles, VTrans and Local Motion."

[Full Story]

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Zero Waste

Submitted by Elizabeth Skarie on Fri, 2010-03-12 15:59
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I just read that Kamikatsu, a village on an island in southwest Japan, is on track to reach Zero Waste by 2020. Residents voluntarily wash their refuse and deliver it to Zero Waste Academy, where it is separated into 34 categories by staff members. Last year, the town recycled 192 tons of garbage and incinerated another 135 tons. Their goal for 2020 is to reach Zero Waste with no incineration. While Vermont environmental groups (understandably) reject the concept of trash-to energy by incineration, they are fully behind the Zero Waste movement, a particular focus of Toxics Action Center. I know there are areas of the US where recycling does not occur and people here in Vermont who don’t see the point. Here’s the point: we can not keep stockpiling our garbage in plastic bags and throwing it into holes in the ground where it will sit for centuries or millennia, leaching toxins into our soil and eventually into our water. We all need to do our part to reduce our garbage footprint in our country and on our planet.

The 2010 Census is Coming - Let's Ensure Everyone Counts

Submitted by Mayor Bob Kiss on Thu, 2010-03-11 18:59
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The U.S. Census Bureau has begun mailing out pre-questionnaire letters to households across Vermont. Census questionnaires will be mailed out later this month. Burlington has been working with the Census Bureau in their outreach efforts.  Among other things we’ve utilized promotional and informational materials at City Hall, placed information in electric bills, held a press event with a representative from the Census’s Boston office, had Census information available at Town Meeting Day, and will be hosting an event on Church Street on April 1, which the Census Bureau has designated as “Census Day.”  The City has a link to Census-related information on its website at www.ci.burlington.vt.us. Census information is used to allocate federal funding of over $400 billion per year across the country, as well as establish state and local legislative and congressional districts.  Undercounted populations include college students (who are counted where they go to school), low-income communities, and immigrants.  In Vermont, a substantial number of people have rural route boxes and P.O. Boxes, which means that the Census will not mail questionnaires, but will need to hand deliver them. For obvious reasons it’s important that people participate in the Census, and that we do what we can to encourage participation and ensure that everyone counts.

Granny D, RIP

Submitted by Morgan Daybell on Wed, 2010-03-10 11:20
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Activist Granny D died yesterday at 100. From the NYT obit:
''She never gave up. Until the end, she advocated for public funding. She would wanted people to know that democracy and government belongs to us.''
Over the past several years, I have had a number of conversations with EDs and leaders from the other parties about how to engage young people in politics.  Her comment about the young adventurer is encouraging:
''You have to keep the young adventurer inside your heart alive long enough for it to someday re-emerge. It may take some coaxing and some courage, but that person is in you always -- never growing old.''

Fairpoint Bankruptcy and your Property Tax

Submitted by Morgan Daybell on Fri, 2010-03-05 18:04
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You'll recall that news came out last month about Fairpoint's proposed bankruptcy settlement. In the agreement, Fairpoint proposed paying unsecured creditors only 17 cents on the dollar. I recognized the impact that would have in our communities, as a range of individuals and companies, both large and small, are not paid for the services and stuff they have provided (electricity, water, office supplies, vehicle maintenance, construction, line clearing services, etc.).  At the time, I did not consider myself an unsecured creditor. In my town (and many others) our town report lists delinquent tax payers.  This year we had a new addition--you guessed it--Fairpoint.  And so everyone who pays property taxes in my town, and in towns across the state where Fairpoint owns property, is also an unsecured creditor. Governor Douglas is looking to shift the teachers' retirement fund to local property tax.  Where he has failed so far, his PSB has succeeded.  In approving the Fairpoint-Verizon landline sale, they effectively allowed Verizon to sell off its non-wireless holdings and stiff us all with the tax bill.
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