Current News
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Administrative Complexity, Staff Turnover, and Poor Recordkeeping Contributed to Millions of Dollars in Mistakes
Vermont Business Magazine State Auditor Doug Hoffer released a new audit today of Burlington’s Waterfront TIF district. TIF districts allow municipalities to designate an area for public infrastructure improvements, incur debt to pay for the work, and use a portion of the area’s property tax revenue growth, which would normally pay for education, to pay back the debt. During the last decade, the City has issued nearly $16 million of bonds for public improvements in the Waterfront TIF such as the Moran Frame, Waterfront Access North, Bike Path, and Waterfront Park projects. Mayor Weinberger acknowledged issues the Burlington TIF has had going back more than a decade and that the City is working through it. Meanwhile, Governor Scott continued his support for TIFs as an economic development tool.
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Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets Governor Phil Scott proposed ground-breaking investments in food and farming in his budget address on Friday, January 20th. The Governor’s budget leverages innovative investments and programs to grow Vermont’s food, farm, and forest economy. This budget is thoughtful, deliberate, disciplined, and carefully built to make the most of the historic resources available to us. It’s focused on investing, not just spending, to get the best results and grow revenue, so we can move families and communities ahead. It prioritizes the regions and people who need our help most, to deliver an increasingly healthy and vibrant economy in each of your communities.
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Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, January 21, the Vermont Warden Service responded to a snowmobile crash in Waterbury. Game wardens responded to the scene along with Stowe Rescue, Stowe Mountain Rescue, and the Stowe Police Department. An investigation of the crash determined that Sabrina Dimaiolo, 46, of New Jersey, was operating a snowmobile with a juvenile passenger on a guided tour.
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Vermont Business Magazine iSun, Inc (NASDAQ: ISUN), a leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience accelerating the adoption of innovative electrical technologies, announced the settlement of the pending litigation initiated by Sass Peress. “When we acquired iSun Energy, LLC in January of 2021, we embraced the innovative change pioneered by Sass Peress throughout his career in solar and e-mobility,” said Jeffrey Peck, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of iSun. “We were able to leverage Sass’s existing industry connections to drive our growth strategy forward. We also knew that the innovation acquired would allow iSun the opportunity to build new relationships in new geographic regions. As a Company, we appreciate the opportunity to have worked collaboratively with Sass and his team throughout 2021 and wish him all the success in his path forward. We are happy to settle all disagreements in an amicable manner as our goals of accelerating the transition to clean energy and fighting climate change were aligned from the beginning.”
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by Barbara Benedict, McClure Foundation President His high school education interrupted by the pandemic, Blake, class of 2022, spent much of his sophomore and junior years in online classes. While he didn’t mind the format, which allowed him to work at his family’s laundromat business, he felt ready for something more—especially as his senior year approached. When one of his teachers suggested that he consider Early College, a state program that allows Vermont students to enroll in a free year of college in lieu of their traditional senior year, he was intrigued. “I was ready to push myself, to take my learning to the next level,” he said about his decision to enroll in Early College at the Community College of Vermont (CCV) for his senior year.
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Vermont Business Magazine Scott Administration officials will be visiting Orange County on Monday to continue their county tour to hear from community leaders about their unique infrastructure needs and to discuss the many funding opportunities available to them via federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Officials will offer guidance on how communities can apply for assistance with tangible economic development, housing, water and sewer, climate change mitigation measures, and broadband projects.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education (AOE), in coordination with Vermont Holocaust Memorial (VTHM), and Echoes and Reflections, are offering Vermont teachers in grades 7-12 the state’s first “Holocaust Education Week” from January 23 to 27. In commemoration of the United Nations-designated International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27th, Chittenden-Southeast District Senator Virginia “Ginny” Lyons has filed a Resolution designating January 23 through January 27, 2023 as the first “Vermont Holocaust Education Week.” The resolution is backed by a bipartisan group of legislators.
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Vermont Business Magazine AARP Vermont invites local eligible organizations and governments across the country to apply for the 2023 AARP Community Challenge grant program, now through March 15 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Grants fund quick-action projects that help communities become more livable in the long-term by improving public spaces, transportation, housing, civic engagement, diversity and inclusion, and more. AARP Vermont will offer grant writing assistance to qualified applicants. Now in its seventh year, the program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for all residents, especially those age 50 and older.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Air National Guard will conduct night flying from Tuesday, January 17 to Friday, January 20 and from Tuesday, January 24 to Friday, January 27 with two takeoff and landing periods scheduled between 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. There are no scheduled morning flights. Airmen of the 158th Fighter Wing conduct training in day and nighttime conditions to accomplish federal training requirements and sustain the skills necessary to accomplish the variety of missions assigned to the Air Force’s cornerstone fighter, the F-35.
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Leonine Public Affairs The governor continued the theme of investing in Vermont communities that he highlighted in his inaugural address two weeks ago, and said FY2024 is the “most significant budget I’ve presented,” even though he is proposing no new taxes. The budget is $8.4 billion in spending including $2.3 billion from the General Fund, $2.1 billion from the Education Fund and $335 million from the Transportation Fund.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) announced their 41st Annual Winter Conference, Back to the Roots, happening February 18th and 19th at the University of Vermont in Burlington, VT. Registration is now open! NOFA-VT’s Winter Conference brings together hundreds of farmers, homesteaders, gardeners, land managers, educators, students, producers, policy-makers, and activists to learn, connect, organize, and celebrate the movement toward a more economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just agricultural future. The theme “Back to the Roots” is a nod to the fact that this is NOFA-VT’s first in-person conference since February of 2020. There is also a hybrid option.