Current News

by Rob Roper The Vermont House Ways & Means committee just passed out a $48.3 million package of new or increased taxes and fees. The list includes an increase the fuel gross receipts tax that will at two to three cents to every gallon of home heating fuel, a new application of the 9 percent rooms and meals tax to private rentals done through such sharing programs as AirBnB, and a 25 percent hike in the bank franchise tax.

On the fee side, the state will rake in an additional $10.5 million from folks renewing their drivers’ licenses and registering their vehicles, etc. at the DMV. The biggest item is a $20.8 million increase in the fee to sell mutual funds in Vermont. This sets a very bad precedent as a fee is supposed to raise only enough money to cover the costs of regulating the entity paying the fee. It is not supposed to generate revenue for the general fund as this “fee” hike does. 

Vermont Business Magazine There's a $7,216 cost difference between owning a car in Michigan ($15,314.53) and New Hampshire ($8,098), finds a new study from personal finance website GOBankingRates.com. Vermont ($10,739.32) is also much cheaper than Michigan, but in the middle of the pack nationally. The study considered the costs of six key factors affecting the expenses of owning a vehicle in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

by Jennifer Nachbur A team of Vermont investigators has been issued a patent for their discovery of a molecule that rescues damaged blood vessels, yet preserves healthy vessels and could serve as a springboard for a new pharmaceutical therapy with fewer side effects for hypertension – a major risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease that effects roughly one in three people in the US.

by Olga Peters/The Commons A former US ambassador and two-time state senator for Windham County, Peter Galbraith, entered the Vermont gubernatorial race today. Galbraith, a Democrat from Townshend, says his campaign will focus in part on improving economic justice in Vermont. Like economic justice and income inequality, there are issues critical to the state that the other candidates aren’t talking about, he said.

Peter Galbraith photo by Randolph T Holhut/Commons file photo

Voters shouldn’t expect him to make grand campaign promises, Galbraith warned.

Galbraith said that if elected, he would focus on the issues over which the state has direct control.

Vermont Business Magazine The Greater Burlington YMCA has announced that Kyle Dodson of Burlington has been selected as the organization’s next President & CEO. Dodson will step into the role as of May 2. Dodson’s background is in education, finance and service and he brings with him a deep passion for community. After working in the world of finance in New York City, his first professional opportunity in Vermont was at St. Michael’s College, where he held several positions starting in 1995.

by David Coates Recently Lieutenant Governor candidate Randy Brock, a former State Senator and State Auditor, declared that the state should raise an additional $100 million of new revenues. It would be hard to disagree with his assessment especially when the first $60 million would be required to shore up the annual underfunding of the state workers and teachers retiree health care benefits. 

As I have mentioned previously, the total unfunded retirement liability (for state workers and teachers) facing the state as of June 30, 2015 is $3.8 billion. Likely in excess of $5 billion if held to the same standards as private sector employers. For comparison purposes, in 2005 the amount was $1.6 billion. Nearly a 150 per cent increase. This state debt, which taxpayers are liable for, has more than doubled in ten years.

Vermont Business Magazine The UVM Office of Technology Commercialization, the Vermont Technology Council, and the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies will host the eleventh annual Invention 2 Venture Conference on April 7 from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Dudley H. Davis Center on the UVM campus. The goal of the conference is to provide an engaging setting where industry leaders can share -- with entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs, potential investors, the private sector, researchers, government officials, and students, information and resources in an engaging setting -- the ideas that have made them successful.

Dr Robert Andosca, president, CEO and co-founder of Microgen Systems Inc.

Vermont Business Magazine SVMC General Surgery, formerly located in Suite 211 of the Medical Office Building at 140 Hospital Drive in Bennington, has moved to a completely renovated office, Suite 205, in the same building. In the past, each of SVMC’s four surgeons had individual practices. The renovation and move was initiated to give all four the capability to see patients in one practice. “Drs. Cope, Drew, Salem, and I work as a team, so it makes sense for us to share office space. This new arrangement makes collaboration even easier, and the combined staff will be able to serve patients better than ever,” said Dr. Graham Moore, Chair of the Department of Surgery.

Vermont Business Magazine Karen Glass, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ Vermont Campus, has been awarded a three-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $384,000. Through the grant, Dr Glass will continue research that seeks to identify new drug targets for heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other disease states. The grant, which began on February 1, 2016, is a renewal of an NIH funded grant that Dr. Glass received in 2013. Her submission for this latest grant received a score of “10” which is the highest possible score one can achieve, ranking it in the 1st percentile among all grants that NIH scores.

Vermont Business Magazine Lyndon State's News 7 broadcast has been named the third-best college newscast by the Broadcast Education Association (BEA), just behind programs from Arizona State University and the University of Oklahoma. This same newscast is a finalist for the Region 1 Mark of Excellence competition for Best All-Around Television Newscast in the northeast as chosen by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Vermont Business Magazine The Norwich University computer security and information assurance (CSIA) program, with students operating both onsite in California and on campus, supported Santa Clara Police Department, the lead law enforcement agency at Super Bowl 50, and the law enforcement and homeland security functions leading up to and during this international sporting event.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General William H Sorrell and four state agencies are leading a multi-state effort to have the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take into account state interests as the NRC drafts new rules for decommissioning nuclear power plants. The Departments of Public Service, the Agency of Natural Resources, the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, and the Department of Health contributed to the Comments filed last Friday.