Current News

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Benefit cliffs are a real problem. The term is used to describe the predicament people get into when earning more income makes them ineligible for certain public benefits. Their income goes up, but then they fall off a benefit cliff. “Benefit cliffs’ is also one of those technocratic terms that’s hard to get excited about. But that could all change if enough people read just a short section of the Final Report of the Vermont Tax Structure Commission. It cuts through all of the usually confusing information and describes clearly the reality of a problem that needs fixing.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Heart & Soul Wednesday announced its new Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program, a funding opportunity for small cities and towns nationwide. The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides startup funding of $10,000 for resident-driven groups in communities with populations of 2,500 to 30,000 to implement the Community Heart & Soul model. The Community Heart & Soul model engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it.

The five-year contract, valued at approximately $7M USD, was awarded after a rigorous and competitive technical evaluation.

Vermont Business Magazine Commercial calibration instrument and service provider Transmille Calibration, Inc. in Colchester has been awarded a five-year contract, valued at an approximated $7 million, from Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal (ACC-RA) for the supply of over 300 Multi Product Calibrators (MPC) to the United States Army.

Multi Product Calibrators are used to calibrate a wide variety of handheld and bench mount digital multimeters and electronic test tools. A customized version of Transmille’s 4000 series will be used by Army CALSETS group in their mission to develop and deliver calibration measurement accuracy to the Army.

Vermont Business Magazine KeyCorp recently received two national honors that highlight its longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. KeyCorp is the holding company for KeyBank, with branches across Vermont. The recognition includes: Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality. For the thirteenth time, Key was recognized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as a leading employer for LGBTQ Equality. Key scored a perfect 100 points on the Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 122 new cases COVID-19 after two days of cases well under 100. There was also one more deeath for a statewide total of 188. Also, the City of Burlington’s testing of wastewater has detected the presence of two COVID-19 virus mutations that are associated with the B.1.1.7 variant, first detected in the United Kingdom. Detection of these two mutations is a strong indicator that the B.1.1.7 variant is present in the community.

Vermont Business Magazine Late yesterday afternoon, the City of Burlington received test results from its COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring Program that detected evidence of two COVID-19 mutations that are associated with the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom. Though this finding will not be definitive until it is confirmed through genomic sequencing, it indicates that the B.1.1.7 variant is likely now present in Burlington at a low level. The B.1.1.7 variant has been found in 34 U.S. states according to the CDC, and has not previously been identified in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Green Building Network’s (VGBN) ninth annual Vermont’s Greenest Building Awards Competition is now open for submissions. This statewide competition recognizes exemplary residential and commercial buildings that excel in green building strategies – including water, health, transportation, and affordability – and meet the highest standard of demonstrated energy performance.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation today announced the recipients of the 2021 State Historic Preservation Grants. The grants, totaling $204,896, were awarded to 13 municipalities and non-profit organizations statewide in eight counties, facilitating the repair and rehabilitation of important historic buildings.

Vermont Business Magazine The Bennington Opioid Response Team, which formed in the spring of 2018, is eager to share recent updates on its work and to gather feedback from the community. The group is comprised of over 40 individuals from community organizations, including health care, mental health, recovery, government, law enforcement, housing, transportation, and prevention. It’s mission is to improve quality of life by reducing the adverse effects of opioid use in the community.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine As the Vermont Labor Department seeks to rectify errors in processing 1099-Gs for 2020 claimants, regular weekly unemployment claims last week fell by 120, but remain at a historically high level. Numbers also fell nationally but also remain high. Economists suggest 2021 is off to a sluggish start. As for the 1099-G errors, they came to light the day claimants first started receiving the forms on February 1. Labor sends out 6,000-8,000 1099s in a typical year, but between the spike in UI claims because of pandemic-related layoffs and the new federal relief programs, the total number of 1099s required is about 180,000 forms to 101,511 people.

Vermont Business Magazine Middlebury College has instituted an official land acknowledgment which recognizes that the Western Abenaki are the traditional caretakers of Vermont lands and waters. A Middlebury College steering committee worked with local Abenaki leaders to develop the acknowledgment and accompanying initiatives. The acknowledgement follows Middlebury's establishment of the pilot summer Abenaki Language School in 2020.

Vermont Business Magazine Encore Renewable Energy, Bromley Mountain Ski Resort and Tangent Energy Solutions announced their plans to develop and build a 615kWdc solar project on land owned by Bromley Mountain in Peru, Vermont. The resort has implemented several sustainability initiatives over the last two decades, including energy efficiency upgrades to their buildings and snowmaking activities. The new project jointly developed by Encore and Tangent Energy Solutions will generate clean, locally generated solar power and help Bromley reach their sustainability goals.