Current News

by Erin Mansfield vtdigger.org An oversupply of milk is bringing down prices in the Northeast and driving large dairy cooperatives to dump their product in manure pits, experts say. Although low prices for milk products can be a short-term positive for consumers, the low prices are causing a hard time for farmers who otherwise enjoyed the benefits of record high milk prices for the past five years.

That’s according to Doug Dimento, a spokesperson for the Agri-Mark dairy cooperative based in Massachusetts. The cooperative includes milk-processing plants in Middlebury and St Albans and has been forced to dump skim milk at its processing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Vermont Business Magazine After 15 years of offering Vermont’s most romantic getaway, the Lilac Inn Bed and Breakfast of Brandon has been awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame Award of Distinction by the travel website Trip Advisor. Owners and innkeepers Doug and Shelly Sawyer were especially pleased that the award was based on visitor feedback.

“Over the years, we always kept a diary in each room for guests to leave comments about their stay,” said Shelly. “Now Trip Advisor allows everyone to see what guests say about our property—and we could not be happier. This award is wonderful recognition for our inn, and a great way to get the word out about our destination weddings.”

Vermont Business Magazine At the upcoming national Retail Summit in Washington, four Vermonters will be awarded for excellence. Andrew Brewer of Onion River Sports in Montpelier, Marc Sherman of Stowe Mercantile in Stowe, Trudy Trombley of Truly Trudy's Boutique also in Stowe and Todd Keyworth of Harborside Harvest Market in North Hero have been recognized as “America’s Retail Champions” by the National Retail Federation – the world’s largest retail trade association.

This notable recognition was extended for their advocacy and engagement on behalf of the retail industry, an industry that supports one in four American jobs.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell announced today that Bank of America will pay the State $1.25 million to resolve the state’s claim that the bank failed to honor the terms of settlement agreements it entered into with homeowners in foreclosure actions.

“Homeowners faced with foreclosure need to know that when their bank makes a deal to settle the foreclosure action, the deal will be honored,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “When banks fail to live up to promises they make to Vermont homeowners, there will be consequences.”

Vermont Business Magazine Department for Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Ken Schatz reported today that Vermont's official payment error rate for 3SquaresVT -- a federally-funded program that provides food assistance to approximately 84,000 Vermonters -- was 2.76 percent in Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2014. This puts DCF below the national average of 3.66 percent for FFY 2014 and represents a significant improvement over FFY 2013 when the rate stood at 9.66 percent. Vermont was among the states with the most improved payment error rates in FY 2014 -- with a 6.90 percentage point improvement in payment accuracy over FFY 2013. This performance earned Vermont a federal high-performance bonus of approximately $293,000.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and three colleagues today asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate “ridiculous prices” for cable and broadband services. The letter asks the FCC to collect information on what Americans pay for broadband and cable services by location, provider and the fees these companies charge. Currently, America ranks 25^th worldwide for broadband speed, and pays more for poorer quality broadband than customers in Slovakia, Estonia, South Korea, and the UK.

Vermont Business Magazine The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, has announced that it has awarded a total of $30,000 to three Vermont organizations: the Vermont Community Loan Fund; the Windham Child Care Association; and the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity.

The People’s United Community Foundation awarded $12,000 to the VCLF to support its Business Loan Program. VCLF offers loans, grants and ongoing technical assistance for the development of affordable housing, community facilities, local businesses, child care programs and other projects, and gives socially responsible investors a safe and sensible tool for investing in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine As authorized by the City Council at their June 29, 2015 meeting, the City of Burlington and Rasier, LLC, the company doing business as Uber, have signed an Interim License and Operating Agreement, which becomes effective on Monday, July 13, 2015. The Agreement allows Uber to temporarily operate lawfully within city limits and at the Burlington International Airport, pending revisions to the city’s Vehicle for Hire Ordinance. Uber is a direct car service accessed through an app. The taxi companies have complained that it acts a taxi service without having been licensed and without having to meet the costs and other requirements of a cab company, thus giving it an unfair market advantage. The city is attempting to regulate the service and require it to have most of the obligations of a taxi service. The agreement does not give it full registered taxi status, however.

Key provisions of the Agreement include the following:

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont tax revenues were down slightly for the month of June, the last month of the state's fiscal year, but overall finished up more than $20 million over adjusted expectations. Revenue targets were lowered twice during the fiscal year, once last summer and once in the winter, as the personal income tax waned as wages were sluggish. However, the "April surprise," predicted by state economists, resulted in the single biggest month in state history for revenues, as end-of-year bonuses and dividends sent tax obligations higher. Led by the Corporate tax, it also sent General Fund revenues into the black.

Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson released today the preliminary June fiscal year (FY) 2015 revenue results for the General, Transportation, and Education Funds. The revenue targets are based on the Consensus Revenue Forecast adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 20, 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Of the 340 total middle market firms in Vermont, 11 are engaged in exporting, which make up 3 percent of Vermont’s middle market firms (US average 5 percent), according to the Middle Market Power Index: Taking the Global Stage from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet. The second report, based on Dun & Bradstreet’s proprietary database of commercially-active US firms, explores the characteristics of US middle market companies (defined as businesses generating between $10 million and $1 billion in revenues) engaged in exporting their products and services.

Nationally, there are more than 136,000 middle market firms with 7,066 engaged in exporting, accounting for 5 percent of middle market firms.

Below is a table comparing Vermont’s number of exporting middle market firms to national data as well as a national map:

Vermont Business Magazine Lake Sunapee Bank Group (NASDAQ: LSBG), the holding company for Lake Sunapee Bank with branches through central Vermont and New Hampshire, has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of fourteen cents ($0.14) per common share payable July 31, 2015, to stockholders of record as of July 24, 2015. The Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve the dividend, which represents a 7.7 percent increase over previous quarters.

About Lake Sunapee Bank Group

Lake Sunapee Bank Group is the holding company of Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb, a federally chartered savings bank that provides a wide range of life-cycle banking and financial services.

Vermont Business Magazine Named after the Green Mountains which run throughout its boundaries, the state of Vermont has recently taken on a different meaning of “green:” green energy. Jumping on the opportunity to meet the growing demand for energy efficient solutions around the state where close to one-fourth of all energy consumed is renewable, Michael J Leopold, 56, is introducing SuperGreen Solutions to the state with SuperGreen Solutions South Burlington. Located in South Burlington, Leopold will officially open his location of the business "Entrepreneur Magazine" rated on its 2015 Top New Franchises ranking on June 29.