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Vermont Business Magazine Some of the largest departments – the Agency of Human Services, Department of Children and Families, Vermont Health Access and Public Safety – took the biggest hits as the Shumlin Administration attempts to cut over $31 million in General Fund spending to realign the state budget with lagging tax revenues.

Appearing before the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee today at the Vermont State House, Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding and Finance and Management Commissioner Jim Reardon outlined $31.3 million in proposed adjustments in state spending for the current fiscal year to match projected available revenues, consistent with the updated revenue forecast adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on July 24. The adjustments are spread broadly across state government, but they said that they preserve core state services, do not require furloughs or layoffs, and ensure Vermont will end the fiscal year with a balanced budget.

Sisters and Brothers Investment Group, LLP has admitted violations of Vermont’s Hazardous Waste Management Rules at a pair of Burlington properties and has agreed to pay $70,000 in civil penalties for the violations. “Vermont businesses that generate and handle hazardous waste must follow the State’s hazardous waste management rules," said Attorney General William H Sorrell. “Those rules protect the public health and the environment. We take violations of the rules seriously,” Attorney General Sorrell added.

At the site of a major downtown redevelopment, Governor Peter Shumlin announced the allocation of $2.4 million in tax incentives to 37 projects, supporting nearly $78 million in downtown and village and village center construction and rehabilitation projects. “These incentives are proven to jumpstart transformation in communities and have brought jobs, business and housing to downtowns and villages across the state,” said the Governor. “And when we put people to work revitalizing our communities, we not only support local economic development – we’re building a better and stronger Vermont for the next generation.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Public Service, in conjunction with the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Department of Information and Innovation, has released the 2014 Telecommunications Plan public comments draft. The Plan addresses the major ongoing developments in the telecommunications industry, including broadband infrastructure development (including at least a minimum level of service to currently un-served regions), regulatory policy and recommendations for future action. The plan also includes the long-standing but elusive goal of "universal availability of mobile service along travel corridors and near universal availability statewide."

Jay Peak Resort announced in a statement Friday that it will pay out an additional $350,000 this year to the partners in its first EB-5 project, Tram Haus Lodge. The payment comes just eight months after Jay Peak Management Inc paid the investors in this project more than $750,000 as part of the project’s guarantee to return 100 percent of investors’ funds. While there are well over 500 EB-5 operators in the country, less than one percent have commenced with a payout strategy, making Jay Peak’s guarantee of a repayment exceptional, the statement said. Some of the investors were reportedly upset that their status as limited partners had been reverted to IOUs last year.

Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell asked the US District Court for the District of Vermont late Friday afternoon to dismiss the lawsuit brought by food manufacturer trade associations to invalidate Act 120, Vermont’s law requiring the labeling of genetically engineered (GE, also knownn as GMO) food. “The State’s motion makes the case that Vermont’s labeling law withstands all five challenges to its constitutionality made by Plaintiffs and that the Court should dismiss the suit without requiring the State to answer the Complaint or engage in further litigation,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “While the Plaintiffs prefer not to disclose that their products are made with genetic engineering, over 90% of the general public supports labeling genetically engineered foods,” he added.

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont fell to a new low this year. Claims are typically low this time of year. They tend to rise in the transition from summer to back-to-school in early September. Levels this year have been running consistently lower than those of last year. For the week of August 2, 2014, there were 353 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 77 from the previous week's total, and 171 fewer than they were a year ago.

Eighteen of the 31 animals that have tested positive for rabies so far this year have been in the state’s most populated region, Chittenden County. The 18th Annual Rabies Bait Drop will take place (weather permitting) Aug. 11-18 targeting eight Vermont counties, including all of Chittenden County, to help stop the spread of the potentially fatal viral disease. Baits will be dropped into rural parts of Vermont, primarily across the northern region along the Canadian border, from low-flying planes for two days. Hand placed baits will be distributed in urban areas as part of a nationally coordinated effort led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services (USDA).

One reason so many cases are being detected in Chittenden County, said State Public Health Veterinarian Robert Johnson, DVM, is that police in Burlington and South Burlington are doing a good job of capturing animals that are acting strangely and making sure they are tested.

The Libertarian candidate for Governor, Dan Feliciano, held a press conference on Thursday, August 7 announcing that he intends to actively seek the Republican nomination as a write-in candidate.

Feliciano’s decision is controversial within the Libertarian Party, which has many points of difference with the Republican Party.

"I am not opposed to candidates seeking outside nominations if there is a match on a certain issue," said Travis Spencer, chair of the Milton Town Committee and State Committee Assistant Treasurer.

"This election cycle shows where a major issue can be overturned by joining forces to overcome it,” he said, referring to the looming “single-payer,” government-managed health care for Vermont. “There are times when Liberty is greater than Party and this is one of those times."

Logic Supply, a South Burlington-based industrial computer company, has officially broken ground on a 3 million dollar expansion of their headquarters.

Neagley & Chase Construction Company (www.neagleychase.com/) began laying the groundwork last week for a 21,000 square foot addition to the company’s facility that will carry on the energy-efficient, modern design influences of Logic Supply’s existing building which Neagley & Chase built in 2007. The addition will incorporate a new main entrance and house office and storage space as well as a new cafeteria and meeting areas.

Images: Logic Supply

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Burlington College is behind on its payments to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington and has financial problems that raise “substantial doubt” about the college’s viability, according to a recent audit. The school is struggling to pay off $10 million in loans it owes from buying a 32-acre campus on Lake Champlain from the diocese in 2011. Burlington College is on probation from the regional accreditation agency because of the financial trouble. The diocese says the college defaulted on its loan payment and is charging the school penalty interest. Burlington College disagrees, but acknowledged in the audit that it is suffering financially.

Vermont Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe is receiving national attention for her letter to parents on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Her letter is a response to the 2014 mandate that if a single child in a school scores lower than “proficient” on state tests, the school, under federal law, must be labeled “low performing”. Under this act, as of 2014, every school in Vermont is rated “low performing”, except for a few which were not required to take the NECAP the previous year.

In her letter, Holcombe writes "the Vermont Agency of Education does not agree with this federal policy, nor do we agree that all of our schools are low performing." She outlines a wide range of data that illustrate that Vermont schools are not, in fact, “failing”, and that test scores are not necessarily the best measure of a school's success.