Current News

by Rob Roper Vermont is a tougher than average place to make a living. No secret there. One of the first questions you get from folks you meet is, “You live here full time? How do you make it work?” Some of the answers are necessarily creative. Vermont is a great place to live, but it comes with sacrifices. There are fewer career paths, a lack of high paying jobs overall, and lower pay here for doing the same job in another state. So, lots of people telecommute. Many work multiple jobs. Some rent out their homes over the holidays to generate extra income (or, more likely, to pay their exorbitantly high property taxes).

According to an analysis by the Small Business Administration, in 2011 small businesses represented 96.3% of all employers in Vermont, and of them 76.3% had no employees (other than the owner). We have a lot of entrepreneurial people working for themselves.

by Allison Teague/The Commons Windham Superior Court Judge John Wesley has sided with the town of Rockingham in a lawsuit against TransCanada, affirming the Grand List valuations set in 2012, 2013, and 2014 for the utility’s hydroelectric facility in Bellows Falls. “The Court finds that the Town has produced sufficient reliable evidence of its fair market value assessment of the Bellows Falls hydroelectric facility at $130,000,000, yielding the value of the portion in Rockingham at $108,495,400,” Wesley wrote in the Aug. 21 court ruling.

The company has owned the facility in downtown Bellows Falls since 2009. It was on the 2012 grand list at $108.11 million, the same value at which it had been listed for 2010 and 2011.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters now have a short-time frame before the new year to capitalize on a incentive offering to help them save money on home heating, while supporting Vermont jobs and sustainable forests, while making sure they stay warm this winter. Vermonters can get up to $5,500 to help switch from fossil fuel to local wood heating. Cash incentives are available from the Clean Energy Development Fund and Efficiency Vermont. Renewable Energy Vermont and the Renewable Energy Resource Center have partnered to help promote the incentives.

“We’ve been very happy with our decision to switch to a wood pellet boiler. Not only do we save money every year on our fuel bill, but we also love the fact that we’re helping to keep forests intact and logging jobs going,” says Mark Bushnell of Middlesex.

Vermont Business Magazine A record number of students applied to the University of Vermont this year, and this week, UVM welcomes its new class — the most academically talented in school history. Incoming students earned an average GPA of 3.53 on a 4.0 scale and an average SAT score of 1197, a 12-point increase over last year. The Class of 2019 also boasts a record number of Green & Gold Scholars — top students from Vermont high schools. Thirty-four of these talented students have enrolled at UVM.

Vermont Business Magazine Less than a month before Congress votes on whether to reauthorize a controversial program mandating healthier school lunches, a new study confirms the suspicions of school officials - many students are putting the fruits and vegetables they're now required to take straight into the trash, consuming fewer than they did before the law took effect. The new study, published online in Public Health Reports on August 25, is the first to use digital imaging to capture students' lunch trays before and after they exited the lunch line.

by Mike Feher vtdigger.org State officials have launched a criminal probe of the Brattleboro Retreat in the wake of Medicaid fraud allegations raised repeatedly by a former employee. The investigation, first reported by The Associated Press, was confirmed by Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell on Tuesday. And documents show that at least some of the state’s concerns arose from the complaints made by whistleblower Thomas Joseph, a controversial figure who has alleged millions of dollars of malfeasance at the Brattleboro psychiatric hospital.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department for Children and Families' Child Development Division (CDD) is updating the state regulations for family child care homes and center-based child care and preschool programs in Vermont. There are currently 1,347 home and center-based programs in Vermont with the licensed capacity to serve up to 25,636 children. Since the regulations were last updated, there have been many changes affecting child care and preschool programs.

Changes include:

Vermont Business Magazine Incoming Superintendent of the Burlington School District Yaw Obeng has been granted an H-1B Visa and is expected to begin work in the District in the next few weeks. Burlington School Board Chair Mark Porter announced that the sought-after clearance was obtained when a faculty position at the University of Vermont became available that matched Obeng’s credentials. “We have been working with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service ever since the board selected Yaw to be our next superintendent,” said Porter. “This is great news for the District and for our students.”

Yaw Obeng

Vermont Business Magazine Responding to rapidly growing demand for their aged goat cheese, Vermont Creamery completed a significant expansion to their aged cheese facility in Websterville, Vermont adding 14,000 square feet and more than quadrupling cheesemaking capacity. The $4 million expansion is the largest investment made by the Creamery in more than 30 years of business and will allow them to meet projected demand for their signature aged goat cheeses—Bonne Bouche, Cremont, Coupole, and Bijou—into the next decade.

Vermont Creamery Bijou

Vermont Business Magazine State Treasurer Beth Pearce this week was named a recipient of the President’s Award from the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, or NASACT, at their annual conference held this year in Chicago. The President’s Award is given each year to one state auditor, one state comptroller and one state treasurer to recognize exceptional efforts in government financial management and accountability. Pearce was honored with the award to recognize her national leadership in the area of state government transparency. Under her leadership, Vermont was the first state to develop a state disclosure web site adhering to NASACT’s Ten Best Practices for State Governments in Voluntary Financial Reporting.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain College President Paul J Fonteyn announced at a meeting of faculty and staff yesterday that he will step down as president of the Poultney school at the end of the 2015-16 academic year. “The accomplishments I have achieved during my tenure as president have only been possible because of the vibrant, creative, and dedicated faculty and staff composing the Green Mountain community," Fonteyn said. "It has been an honor to serve as president for the past seven years. I will miss a lot of things, but especially the students.”

The seventh president in GMC history, Fonteyn was appointed in June 2008.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced today that all 11 community health centers in Vermont received funding totaling $493,860, in recognition of their achievements providing high quality health care. The awards are Vermont’s share of $63.3 million in nationwide grants for 1,153 health centers and will be used to expand access to high quality primary care. Today’s announcement included awards for health centers with the highest clinical outcomes and clinical improvement. The federal funds were made possible by a Sanders-authored provision in the Affordable Care Act that included $11 billion for community health centers.

Community health centers across the country provide primary medical, dental, and mental health care services and access to low-cost prescription drugs to nearly 23 million Americans. This year, community health centers in Vermont will serve one-in-four Vermonters at more than 50 sites across the state.