Current News

MyWebGrocer of Colchester, Vermont, and Big in Japan have partnered to bring timely and relevant product data and advertising to the Google Android Platform. ShopSavvy, Big in Japan s popular price comparison application, utilizes MyWebGrocer s grocery data to help consumers find relevant products and pricing at their local grocery retailers.
Using any Google Android phone, shoppers can scan a barcode found on any grocery product and are instantly shown product results from ShopSavvy. These results include prices on the web and at local stores, consumer reviews, an option to save the product to their wish list and to sign up for results when the price changes on the item. As consumers are grocery shopping, from the palm of their hand they will be able to see information that they traditionally had to get from newspaper circulars or direct mail.

Governor Jim Douglas tomorrow will announce that Farm Way has received a $226,000 grant through the Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) to construct solar panels at their Bradford, Vermont, store. A computer panel inside the store displays real-time information on how much electricity the solar panels are producing, so the visitors who come from far and wide can learn about the technology and how Farm Way is greening its carbon footprint while they shop. The system is generating 77,000 kW annually which helps the store avoid sending 76,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air annually.

Today, Secretary of Administration Neale F. Lunderville released revenue results for the month of May. General Fund revenues exceeded the recently revised target for the month, as compared to the consensus revenue target, due solely to unexpected one-time $13 million Estate Tax receipts. Year-to-date, General Fund revenues of $1,003.78 million (+$10.81 million, +1.09%) were slightly above target. Transportation funds were also up by almost 4 percent. Meanwhile, the non-property tax Education Fund revenues were off 2 percent. The person who died last year was not identified by the Vermont Tax Department, but the value of the estate was worth somewhere between $80 million to $100 million.
General Fund

In recent months, the economic recession has created unprecedented challenges for Vermont’s 200 certified organic dairy farmers. After years of double-digit increases in consumer demand, reliable milk prices and impressive expansion in the number of organic dairy farms in Vermont, sales of organic dairy products nationally have decreased substantially. There is now an oversupply of organic milk in most markets. The two major wholesale buyers of Vermont’s organic milk, Horizon Organics and Organic Valley Cooperative have implemented mandatory milk price or production cuts to address financial and supply-demand imbalances.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation’s District 7 Maintenance Garage in St. Johnsbury has become the first public transportation entity in the nation to achieve a supplemental safety merit from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The ceremony to honor this achievement will take place today at 1 pm at the garage.
District 7 has been working to achieve this merit under the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) with the Vermont OSHA office for the past three years. The program is intended to promote workplace health and safety through a collaborative effort between the employees and VOSHA.
The program is 100 percent employee driven, and as such can only succeed if it is supported from within. The District 7 employees’ hard work and dedication to improve the safety of their workplace paid off, and this week OSHA announced that District 7 became the very first Public Transportation entity in the nation to achieve VPP STAR STATUS.

At the Vermont Ski Areas Association s 40th Anniversary Annual Meeting today, the industry trade group announced that Vermont s ski resorts recorded 4,068,696 skier visits for the 2008-09 season. Nationally, preliminary reports put Vermont s numbers on track with the country s overall average, with Vermont resorts and the northeast faring better than airline-dependent destinations. The season saw an above-average start with a strong Thanksgiving opening and a string of Ski Vermont powder alerts matching those of the 2007-08 banner snow year. Despite a Christmas thaw, little new snow in March and the worst economic downturn ever seen by the ski industry, Vermont s tally of just over 4 million skier visits stands about on par with the five-year average.

McSoley McCoy & Co. has joined the BDO Seidman Alliance, a nationwide association of independently owned local and regional CPA firms and businesses. As a member of the Alliance, McSoley McCoy & Co. can expand the services offered to clients by drawing on the resources of BDO Seidman LLP, one of the nation's leading professional service firms. As a Member Firm of BDO International, BDO Seidman, LLP serves multi-national clients by leveraging a global network of resources comprised of 1,095 offices in 110 countries. BDO International is a worldwide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms, serving international clients.
Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country.

The state of Vermont continues to have the lowest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to RealtyTrac(R) (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. Today it released its May 2009 US Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- were reported on 321,480 US properties during the month, a decrease of 6 percent from the previous month but an increase of nearly 18 percent from May 2008. The report also shows that one in every 398 US housing units received a foreclosure filing in May.

The Small Business Administration awards celebration will be held this evening, June 10, 2009, from 4-7 pm under the Discover Jazz tent at Burlington Waterfront Park. The awards program is presented by Vermont Business Magazine and the SBA.
The principal award will go to Mark Bonfigli, CEO and Founder of Dealer.com, Burlington, who is the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 2009 Vermont Small Business Person of the Year. Bonfigli was selected for outstanding leadership related to his company’s staying power, employee growth, increase in sales, innovation and contributions to the community.

Vermont Days 2009, June 13th and 14th, is the weekend to celebrate the arrival of summer and enjoy a free sample of Vermont s excellent fishing, state parks, forests, and historic and cultural resources.

All weekend, all Vermont State Park day areas, state forests, state-owned historic sites, and the Vermont Historical Society Museum (Montpelier) will be open for FREE admission.

Saturday, June 13th is free fishing day the day everyone is encouraged to go fishing in Vermont (no license required).

Sunday, June 14th, is a second day of free admission to state parks, state-owned historic sites, and a perfect day to explore Vermont's lively forests.

For the Week of 06/06/2009. There were 911 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 21 from the week before. Altogether 14,939 new and continuing claims were filed, 81 fewer than a week ago and 7,675 more than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,825 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 137 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 658 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 3 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) service is now available for a growing number of customers in Richmond, Vermont. Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom customers in parts of the East Main Street, Snipe Ireland Road and O’Neil Road area, are in the process of being converted to 100% fiber-optic service. Fiber-optic service allows even greater speeds and increased reliability. In addition, recent equipment upgrades now allow approximately 60% of its High-Speed DSL users to upgrade their Internet speeds to 12Mbps, or about twice the previously available speed via the new “Elite” service.