Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Advantage Payment Systems, LLC, a Nevada company that processes electronic payments, will pay $22,000 to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection laws. “Vermont currently has the strongest law in the nation to combat predatory high-interest, unlicensed loans – loans that historically were called payday loans,” said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. “This is another settlement confirming that payment processors and others who assist illegal lenders are held responsible for the harms caused by illegal loans.” More information on illegal lending and the Attorney General’s efforts can be found here.

Vermont Business Magazine Merchants Bank partnered with WARMTH again this year to help prevent low-income Vermonters across the state from going without heat this winter.  Merchants Bank matched dollar-for-dollar donations raised for WARMTH throughout the month of December.  Coupled with the Merchants Bank match of $40,000, the Vermont community raised $107,000. The $40,000 challenge grant was distributed by CVOEO for use by all five community action agencies statewide for the emergency-based WARMTH program to help offset home heating bills. 

Vermont Business Magazine Joined by Vermont businesses, legislative leaders, and others at the State House Wednesday morning, Governor Peter Shumlin today made Vermont the fifth state in America to guarantee paid sick days to its citizens by signing into law H187. The bill goes into effect January 1, 2017. Those businesses already with a paid sick leave plan or equivalent are exempt and employers with five or fewer workers do not have to implement a plan until 2018. The bill met with bitter opposition from many small business advocates who said that it is just another burden on doing business in Vermont. It's estimated that more than 60,000 working Vermonters lack access to paid leave.

Vermont Businiess Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin met with North Bennington residents Tuesday after a number of private wells tested positive for PFOA contamination a week and a half ago. The public drinking sources in Bennington and North Bennington have been tested and are not contaminated. Shumlin also highlighted today that since 2013, routine Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests of 10 public drinking sources in Vermont showed no PFOA contamination. The governor and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department of Health officials updated residents on the state’s response to the situation and answered questions from concerned residents. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) will hold three workshops on Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) final rules on March 31 in Montpelier, April 4 in Burlington, and April 5 in Rutland. These workshops will provide an overview of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, which affects farms that grow, harvest, pack or hold fresh produce. The April 4 workshop, co-hosted by the Vermont Department of Health, will also cover the FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Food rule, which affects food processors.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington has been named one of three finalists in the Earth Hour City Challenge by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), based on Burlington Electric Department’s 100 percent renewably-sourced generation accomplishment, and will compete for the title of US Earth Hour City Capital this spring. Evanston, IL and Boulder, CO also were named as finalists.  The Challenge, which spans one year and encourages cities to promote renewable energy and prepare for climate change, grew out of Earth Hour, the WWF’s global lights-out display to raise awareness around protecting our planet. Earth Hour will take place this year on Saturday, March 19 from 8:30-9:30pm, and Burlingtonians are encouraged to turn off their lights to symbolize their commitment toward addressing climate change.

by Matthew Durkee Since entering Vermont in 2009, NBT Bank’s loan volume in New England has steadily grown and will cross the $1 billion dollar threshold this year. This includes retail and commercial lending to individual consumers and to area businesses. In Vermont alone, the bank has provided $250 million in loans to businesses, with more than $400 million in total loans throughout the state. NBT Bank’s growth in the region has come at a time when economies throughout New England have been working to recover from a sluggish pace when compared to the rest of the nation. 

The bank has seen significant growth in the small to medium business and non-profit sectors. This success has been driven by the high quality employees who were attracted by NBT’s community banking philosophy that allows for decision making by banking professional who know the people and businesses in the markets they serve.  

Vermont Business Magazine Sodexo, which serves the food at many of Vermont's colleges and universities, spent $3.22 million purchasing locally-grown food in 2015. That constitutes 15.4 percent of the food purchased at Sodexo's 15 Vermont accounts. The figures are contained in a new analysis by Sodexo under its Vermont First commitment, a program the company launched last year with the governor and state officials to increase the amount of local food purchased by Sodexo in the state of Vermont.  

Vermont Business Magazine General Fund (GF) revenues for the month of February finished $16.34 million above target largely resulting from a slow down in Personal Income Tax refunding due to concerns over taxpayer fraud. Personal Income refunds were $23.6 million lower than projected. The General Fund would have been –$7.26 below its monthly target despite positive performance in Sales and Use and Rooms and Meals. Consumption taxes rebounded after a historically warm early winter kept skiers away. February is the eighth month of FY 2016. The fiscal year revenue targets were adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 19, 2016. Also, the frenzy over the record Powerball national lottery helped push up state Education revenues by $3 million.

by C.B. Hall Vermont Business Magazine A federal court hearing in Burlington Monday, March 7, on the Vermont Railway's (VTR) controversial plan to build a road-salt shed alongside its tracks just north of Shelburne village, left both sides in the suit an opportunity to claim some measure of victory. The Vermont Railway and the town of Shelburne have been battling since January over the railway's right to build the facility, to be located on a 33-acre tract purchased by the railroad in late December.

Vermont Business Magazine ECRI Institute has announced the winners of its fifth annual Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. The prestigious award honors healthcare organizations that demonstrate excellence in overall spend management and in adopting best practice solutions in their supply chain processes.

by Tom Pelham In Campaign for Vermont’s first in a series of "Don’t Agonize, Advocate (link is external)" opportunities, we point to a way to reduce property taxes by at least $88 million and redirect millions in general fund dollars to enhance the seriously depleted teachers retirement pension fund, now only 58 percent funded. Folks may agree with some of these opportunities while disagreeing with others, but the conversation about the state’s fiscal woes should be broader than just raising more taxes and fees on cash strapped Vermonters. In this, our second “Don’t Agonize, Advocate” opportunity, we point to $143 million in health care reductions including tens of millions of dollars in state budget savings at the Agency of Human Services.