Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) sent a letter Thursday urging President Donald Trump to fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at no less than $5.1 billion in his upcoming budget.

This morning on his WDEV radio program OPEN MIKE, Mike Smith announced, with the following statement, that he will no longer do the radio show or his regular column, which ran on vtdigger.com, vermontbiz.com and in Vermont Business Magazine.

by Mike Smith This is a difficult announcement, but there’s no other way to say it, than to just say it: I am leaving WDEV and the OPEN MIKE program on February 19th. First of all this has nothing to do with the station or the change in station ownership. In fact, this station has been so supportive of everything that I have done. I will be forever grateful to Ken, Steve and everybody here at WDEV for their support and encouragement; and for giving me this wonderful opportunity over the last 2 ½ years. I have been blessed in life with this opportunity to be with you on a daily basis. Believe me when I say this: it has truly been an honor that I never take lightly.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the successful sale by Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) of Vermont’s first Sustainability Bonds. The bond sale raised $37 million in proceeds for affordable housing, exceeding the expected amount by $2 million. The bonds will fund the “Housing for All” initiative proposed by the governor and enacted by the Vermont Legislature in 2017. Proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be awarded by the Vermont Housing Conservation Board (VHCB) to construct 550-650 homes statewide over the next two to three years. Vermont investors played a critical role in the success of the bond sale.

Vermont Business Magazine The Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office received the investigation regrading former VTrans Aviation Program Manager Guy Rouelle’s expenditures as a state employee for review on August 17, 2017. The allegations regarding Rouelle were possible misappropriation of state funds. Having completed the review of the matter, the Attorney General’s Office announced today that it declines to prosecute due to insufficient evidence of criminal conduct. This matter was investigated by the Vermont State Police with assistance from the Attorney General’s Office and VTrans.

The findings of the Attorney General include the following:

Guy Rouelle, May 2015. VBM photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of four Vermonters to the state’s judiciary, filling existing vacancies. David A. Barra, Scot L. Kline and Megan J. Shafritz were each appointed as a judge to the Vermont Superior Court, which is the state’s trial court consisting of civil, criminal, environmental, family and probate divisions. The judiciary will make the specific court assignments once these appointees are sworn in.

The governor also announced the appointment of Alicia Sacerio Humbert as Family Division magistrate. The judiciary will assign this magistrate primarily to Caledonia, Essex, Orleans and Washington counties. The Family Division of the Superior Court has jurisdiction over all family-related legal matters, including divorce, separation, civil union dissolution and parentage. As magistrate, Humbert will preside over and make decisions in family-related proceedings.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine One of the earliest goals of Jay Peak receiver Michael Goldberg was to make the EB-5 immigrant investors who had been defrauded financially whole and, if possible, allow them the opportunity to complete the process of gaining a US “green card” for themselves and immediate family members. First, Goldberg and his team had to clean up the legal and financial mess resulting from the fraud that was revealed by state regulators and the US Securities & Exchange Commission in April 2016. He then had to get the resort businesses at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain back on firm footing. Then, he had to actually get the $200 million back.

by David Coates KPMG Managing Partner (Retired) More bad news has arrived for Vermonters, and especially Vermont taxpayers, with the release of the State Actuary's 6/20/2017 Reports. The reports cover Pension and Retiree Health Care Benefits (OPEB) for State Workers and Teachers, and results are, frankly, quite startling. The 2017 reports show that Vermont’s combined unfunded liability has increased by over $900 million (over 25%) in just one year. So as of June 30, 2017 our unfunded liabilities stand at $4.5 billion, an amount that is now three (3) times our General Fund revenues and seven (7) times our bonded indebtedness.

In other words, this is the biggest liability the state owes, is more than all of our other liabilities combined, and overwhelms the state’s balance sheet.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) announced Thursday morning that he has secured significant improvements to a key dairy safety net program, which are to be included in a bipartisan budget deal package to be considered by Congress this week. The overall budget deal would avoid another government shutdown for two years. It was first announced Wednesday. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he will vote against the budget deal. The deal was also met with opposition in the House from the left and right. But Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday morning that he believes he has the votes to push it through.

Vermont Business Magazine New England’s annual capacity auction for power system resources concluded Tuesday with sufficient resources to meet peak demand in 2021-2022, and preliminary results indicate the clearing price was the lowest in five years due to a surplus of capacity in the region. The auction is run by ISO New England Inc to procure the resources that will be needed to meet consumer demand for electricity in three years. The clearing price for the power is 12.6 percent lower than at last year's auction. However, because of the complex nature of what goes into the current cost of electricity, which includes transmission costs and other fees, electric bills might not necessarily go down.

Vermont Business Magazine Eight entrepreneurial start-up companies will convene next week at Burlington Electric Department’s Spark Space for the final “sprint” of Accel-VT—a business accelerator providing support, mentorship, and access to capital for early stage companies committed to climate economy innovation. The businesses were competitively selected to participate in Accel-VT to help solve the challenges related to the monitoring and control of distributed energy (e.g., storage, electric vehicles, solar, community scale wind, combined heat and power) and include Packetized Energy of Burlington, Dynamic Organics of Putney, and businesses from Maine, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, and Texas.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos will present the governor’s proclamation declaring February 8, 2018 as “Legal Records Appreciation Day” on Thursday, the 8th of February beginning at 7 pm at the Center for Research in Vermont, which is holding a tribute that evening to Dr Samuel B Hand. Dr Hand set the ground work for the identification, preservation and accessibility of legal records, specifically court records, in this state. The tribute to Dr. Hand will be held in the Memorial Lounge in the Waterman Building at the University of Vermont.

In recognizing legal records as a vital aspect of Vermont’s history, and to highlight their ability to enlighten and guide current and future generations, Vermont Governor Phil Scott has signed a proclamation declaring February 8, 2018 as “Legal Records Appreciation Day.”

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) late Wednesday announced that a bipartisan agreement has been reached on dairy and seed cotton improvements to the farm safety net programs for dairy and cotton farmers, led by Leahy and Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss). Dairy and cotton farmers are facing severe financial strains, which threaten many farms’ survival.