Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Vermont is receiving $1.03 billion from the American Recovery Plan Act, or ARPA. The state has until December 2024 to allocate the massive pot of money.
The administration plans to present its plan to lawmakers in this legislative session, although the spending would be distributed over the next few years, "with needed adjustments on the way," said Administration Secretary Susanne Young.
The proposal calls for the state to spend $250.5 million to improve broadband in underserved rural areas. Of that, $225 million would be allocated as grants to Communications Union Districts, the governor’s office said.
Another $200 million is proposed for climate change mitigation and adaptation, including $25 million to add to Vermont’s existing 292 public electric vehicle charging stations. More than $20 million would go to improve energy efficiency in buildings and provide incentives for consumers to buy energy-efficient electric equipment for heating, cooling and transportation.
The administration also proposes to spend $250 million to create 5,000 units of housing, addressing a critical shortage that is seen as a contributor to rising home prices in Vermont. Housing has been a major economic development priority in the legislature for the last few years; employers have said they can’t find workers because prices are too high.
The money would be used to increase the capacity of emergency shelters, build new permanent multi-family housing, and pay for mixed-income rentals, manufactured homes, and farmworker housing, said Housing Commissioner Josh Hanford.
Chris Donnelly, director of community relations for the Champlain Housing Trust, said he was pleasantly surprised at the size of the proposal.
“It’s quite a demonstration of priority that we share,” said Donnelly. He noted 2,000 Vermont families are living in motels. “It’s going to make a huge difference,” he said. “People will hopefully have more choices about where they can live. And if we can move people out of motels and into permanent housing, that should be a moral imperative.”
Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover), a longtime proponent of broadband expansion, also said she liked what she saw. “I was kind of holding my breath” before seeing the administration’s plan, she said. “I was really pleased to see that we continue to kind of be moving along conceptually in the same way.”
Also on the list: $143 million for economic development and recovery. That includes $50 million in business grants, a number that disappointed business advocates who have said the unmet need is closer to $400 million. The state gave out $340 million in grants to businesses last year to help them stay afloat in the face of COVID-19 closures.
“If you’re [in] lodging, you’ve been pretty much shut down by virtue of the travel guidance for the longest time now, and restaurants have not been operating at full capacity,” said Austin Davis, government affairs manager for the Lake Champlain Chamber. “It’s difficult for these folks. There’s a lot of pain across the state.”
The overall economic development package is designed to incentivize business growth, said Commerce Secretary Lindsay Kurrle. She said the administration has been working with lawmakers for the last four months to come up with a program that will direct aid to businesses that aren’t eligible or federal relief such as the Paycheck Protection Program.
About $25 million would create a statewide hazard mitigation program targeted to low-income communities that repeatedly suffer losses from climate-related emergencies such as flooding. And another $100 million would support implementation of Vermont’s climate action plan.
The administration also included $170 million to develop and improve water and sewer infrastructure, saying that there are several areas of the state where work in these areas is long overdue.
“Projects can range in size from serving a small number of properties to connecting a whole village,” the administration said in prepared materials.
Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, questioned a measure to exempt development projects from Act 250 land use regulation.
“We appreciate that the governor is prioritizing climate change, clean water and affordable housing in the use of the money,” said Shupe. “We applaud that, and share those priorities.” But “we have four years to roll out this spending plan, and it shouldn’t come at the expense of our environmental standards.”
Administration officials have said exempting ARPA-funded projects from Act 250 would help developers meet the timeline set by the federal government for use of the relief money. ARPA projects in designated downtowns, village centers, new town centers, neighborhood designated areas, and existing industrial parks would be exempt from that environmental review, as would state bridge replacement and road projects.
Developers often point to Act 250 as the primary reason for project delays and added expense.
“Development is occurring at a pretty rapid pace in the state now,” with Act 250 in place, Shupe said. “If I were a private developer I would ask, ‘Why does this set of projects get priority over mine?”
Tags: ARPA , economic development , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 2, 2021
Krowinski announced Friday morning that instead of pushing changes that would increase costs and reduce benefits for most of the state’s 17,300 state employees and teachers, she would instead form a summer task force to explore the issue further.
“It's clear that people are struggling with how to find real systemic change to resolve this crisis right now,” she said.
Instead, lawmakers would focus on changes to the governance structure of the pension system in an effort to improve the anemic investment returns, which, along with losses from the Great Recession, have contributed to an unfunded liability that has ballooned to $3 billion. When health care and other long-term costs for the state’s 18,500 retirees is considered, that number swells to $5.6 billion.
Tags: krowinski , pension reform plan , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Sen. Michael Sirotkin (D-Chittenden) abruptly terminated the broadcast of the public meeting of the Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee when he grew concerned that the conversation had strayed from policy into strategy.
Sirotkin, an attorney who chairs the committee, said his members quickly changed course and never discussed anything substantive offline.
“It was a harmless error,” Sirotkin told Seven Days afterward.
Tags: Michael Sirotkin , Vermont Senate , transparency , livestream , Becca Balint , Randy Brock , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
The Senate on Tuesday approved S.79, a wide-ranging bill that aims to improve enforcement of health and safety standards for apartments around the state. The measure would include short-term rentals such as Vrbo and Airbnb in that registry. Owners of conventional lodging have said for years they’re competing on an uneven playing field.
Drevik noted that when the state shut down all inns, hotels and B&Bs last year because of the pandemic, it had no way of knowing who was operating an Airbnb.
“We had state troopers literally coming to our door and checking to make sure that there were no cars in our parking lot from out of state and no guests in our inn,” said Drevik. “And then we had short-term rentals in my town with cars from New York and Massachusetts.”
Tags: short-term rentals , Airbnb , lodging , Web Only , Image
Monday, March 29, 2021
Scott's office announced the nominations in a press release Monday afternoon. They include James Pepper, a deputy state’s attorney for the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs; Julie Hulburd, the human resources director at the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation; and Kyle Harris, an agriculture development specialist at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.
The three were among nearly 100 applicants for the new board. The state Senate must confirm the nominees before they can begin their full-time gigs.
“The Board will play a critical role in ensuring public safety, equity and fairness while implementing this new market,” Scott said in the press release, noting that his three nominees bring "diverse and relevant experience."
Tags: Cannabeat , Phil Scott , Cannabis Control Board , Vermont , Web Only , Image
Friday, March 26, 2021
Lawmakers have been deluged in recent weeks with concerns from environmental groups and residents who worry that streamlining wastewater permits for new housing projects would only further pollute the state’s streams, rivers and lakes.
One of the most controversial provisions of the bill would delegate the state's authority to issue new water and wastewater permits to municipalities, replacing the current “redundant and costly” system, Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint (D-Windham) said.
Tags: water pollution , James Ehlers , Vermont Senate , Web Only , Image
Thursday, March 25, 2021
That would be July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Gov. Phil Scott's administration has included $25,000 in its budget to put together a 15-member commission to plan events around that date.
Finalized this week, the commission includes Susan McClure, the executive director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, and Jim Lockridge, executive director of the Big Heavy World music nonprofit in Burlington.
Also on the commission is Jonah Spivak, who is hoping to raise the profile of the upcoming 250th anniversary of Bennington Battle Day on August 16, 2027.
Although Vermont didn’t become a state until 1791, there was a lot of energy expended in 1776 in what was then a part of New Hampshire and New York to fight the British on Lake Champlain. Among other notable clashes was the Battle of Valcour Island, where the Americans suffered heavy casualties to the British in one of the first naval battles of the American Revolution.
Tags: Revolutionary War , Lake Champlain Maritime Museum , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
The package of reforms presented in the House Government Operations Committee attempts to confront a pension crisis that has deepened with the revelation in the fall that the state system is $600 million worse off than previously revealed.
“Nobody likes the situation we’re in,” Rep. Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford) told her colleagues as she presented the preliminary plan. “But we are looking to try to find the right combination of changes that will make this more sustainable for the General Fund as well as for the retirees and beneficiaries.”
Union officials unloaded on the plan, saying it has not been crafted transparently, unfairly burdens workers and represents a failure of leadership to tackle the problem collaboratively.
Tags: pensions , crisis , unfunded liability , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
But the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs isn’t taking any chances when it comes to attracting new residents. This year, it’s seeking to make its popular move-to-Vermont incentives permanent.
The panel has proposed a $1 million program that would reimburse a worker who is new to the state $5,000 for moving expenses. That amount would rise to $7,500 for someone who moves to an area with a higher-than-average unemployment rate or lower-than-average annual wages.
Vermont’s popular remote worker program garnered international headlines when it debuted in 2018 offering a $10,000 moving reimbursement for any new resident who would work remotely. Its success shows that these programs should continue, said Sen. Randy Brock (R-Franklin), a supporter of the bill. He sees the new measure, which would combine two earlier versions, as something similar to the business incentive programs that are used to lure companies.
“There are some states in the South literally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per job to bring in auto plants and other things,” said Brock. “These are situations a state like Vermont can’t afford.”
Tags: remote worker program , Statehouse , worker shortage , Web Only , Image
Friday, March 19, 2021
A broad COVID-19 recovery bill that would plow $105 million into everything from business grants to affordable housing to free diapers advanced toward approval Friday afternoon.
The Senate unanimously approved H. 315, setting it up for a final vote next week. The bill is lawmakers’ latest attempt to ensure a combination of federal and state funds are spent as soon as possible on programs that will help the state “build back better,” as Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) put it.
“It seems like this bill has touched just about every committee in the Senate,” Kitchel, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told her colleagues.
The bill still needs to return to the House for final reconciliation with the Senate’s numerous changes. But House leaders have been in close communication with their Senate colleagues and are committed to ironing out any differences quickly, said Connor Kennedy, spokesperson for House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington).
“We’re probably at the five-yard line, to be honest,” Kennedy said.
About $80 million of the money is coming from $1.25 billion Vermont received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Some funds are left over from last year's federal CARES Act. The balance will be from state funds, which are flush thanks to a surprise $210 million largely from higher-than-expected tax revenues.
The bill includes funding for a number of key Democratic priorities, including affordable housing, grants for struggling businesses, environmental cleanup and workforce development.
One of the largest chunks is $15 million to help schools address indoor air quality, a significant concern as children have returned to the classroom during the pandemic. There’s also $14 million to help clean up and redevelop some of the state’s numerous contaminated industrial sites, or brownfields. Another $10 million would help affordable-housing developers get projects moving that would help hundreds of homeless people still living in motels around the state, Kitchel said.
The Senate also increased to $10 million funds for “gap grants” to businesses that didn’t qualify for previous funding, such as for new businesses that couldn’t demonstrate previous revenues. Outdoor recreation would also enjoy a big boost, with $5 million going to the Agency of Natural Resources for trail work and another $5 million dedicated to the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative, an economic development effort around recreation businesses.
The bill includes a number of education initiatives, including $3 million to train teachers to improve how they teach literacy, $1.4 million to train new nurses in collaboration with nursing homes, and $1 million to help schools find students they’ve lost track of during the pandemic, a phenomenon she referred to as "ghosting."
"We're really going to have to make some concerted effort to reconnect students with schools," Kitchel said.
Not all expenditures are big-ticket items, however. The Senate also set aside $25,000 for an audit of state deputies, and increased by $82,000 the funds set aside for needy families with children to pay for diapers.
Senate Minority Leader Randy Brock (R-Franklin) asked whether what was characterized as one-time spending would result in programs that the state would need to continue paying for when federal relief dollars dry up. Kitchel said her committee was "absolutely vigilant" to make sure that wasn't the case.
The bill references holding $20 million in reserve to help solve the state’s pension crisis, but Kitchel said her committee didn’t have the time to drill down on that issue and will have to return to it later in the session.
“We intend to address this problem before we leave this year,” she said.
Tags: COVID-19 , Vermont Senate , Web Only , Image