Current News
by tim
According to the RE/MAX of New England February Monthly Housing Report, Vermont experienced a boost in total housing transactions, up 18.2 percent, while median price decreased -6.4 percent year-over-year. Pending sales were up 12.9 percent year-over-year.
Across the region, winter snowfall and frigid temperatures significantly impacted the housing market. The RE/MAX of New England February Monthly Housing Report shows a drop in sales, year-over-year, in every state in New England except Vermont. On average, median prices throughout New England were up 1.3 percent in 2014 and pending sales rose to 28.3 percent.
“This is an expected trend in the height of the winter months,” said Dan Breault, EVP/Regional Director of RE/MAX of New England. “The good news is that month-over-month pending sales are up 26.4 percent. This is an encouraging sign and I anticipate March and April to be even stronger months as we turn the corner from winter to spring.”
by tim
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield will join dozens of Vermont legislators and community members tomorrow to call for the passage of H208 the Earned Sick Days Bill and to urge legislators to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage. Ben and Jerry will also be scooping free ice cream to everyone in the building.
“We thought about coming up with a new flavor 'Raisin Up Vermont,' but based on popular demand we are bringing some favorite flavors and hoping to have lots of good conversations with people about how we can raise up Vermont so it works for everybody,” said Jerry Greenfield.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 18 at 1 pm Ice cream at 12:30 pm in cafeteria
WHERE: Cedar Creek Room at the State House. (Ice cream in cafeteria)
WHO:
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream
State Senator Philip Baruth, (D-Chittenden County) Senate Majority Leader
by tim
Driven by a steep decrease in the number of unemployed, the Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for January 2014 was 4.0 percent. In contrast to recent monthly drops in the unemployment rate, the January figure reflected an increase in both the labor force and number of employed from December. Previous declines have been driven to a large extent by a decrease in the labor force.
The January rate represents a decrease of two-tenths of a percent from the December 2013 rate of 4.2 percent. The comparative national average was 6.6 percent, which was down one-tenth of a percent from December. January 2014 data represents the fourth consecutive reported monthly decrease to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont. As of the prior month’s initial data, Vermont’s unemployment rate was tied for the fifth lowest in the
nation.
by tim
Related Company: ECFiberEast Central Vermont Community Fiber Optic Network (“ECFiber”) has announced that it connected its 600th subscriber last week. By the end of this year, the state-of-the-art fiber-optic network funded largely by local citizens, will extend over 200 miles with the capability to connect over 2,000 homes and businesses in the towns of Barnard, Bethel, Chelsea, Norwich, Pomfret, Randolph, Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, Thetford, Tunbridge, and Vershire.
With the planned 2015 expansion to West Windsor and Reading, ECFiber stated that more than half of the 24 member towns will have service from ECFiber. ECFiber’s expansion has been facilitated by the Vermont Telecom Authority’s Orange County Fiber Connector (“OCFC”), which passes through Chelsea, Vershire, West Fairlee, Thetford, Strafford, and Sharon.
by tim
The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) as part of its many business services is offering several workshops for those thinking about starting their own business – taking their idea and turning it into a full-fledged venture. The upcoming workshops on - “How to Start Your Own Business” and write a business plan. They will be held on:
o March 20th Barre - Community National Bank - (9:00am – 1:00pm)
o March 28th Williston - Vermont Tech – Williston Campus - (8:30am – 12:30pm)
o April 9th Morrisville - Community College of Vermont - (9:30am – 1:30pm)
o April 16th Williston - Vermont Tech – Williston Campus - (8:30am – 12:30pm)
o April 17th Barre - Community National Bank - (9:00am – 1:00pm)
by tim
Related Company: Chittenden County Transportation AuthorityAs of Monday morning, CCTA drivers were striking and buses were not running. The City of Burlington has identified the following transportation resources to assist Burlingtonians and our neighbors who travel to Burlington in the event of a CCTA strike continuing:
· Downtown Parking: two City parking garages – the Lakeview Garage and the College Street Garage – normally have additional capacity during weekdays. The Lakeview Garage (45 Cherry Street) is accessed from lower Cherry Street next to Hotel Vermont. The College Street Garage (68 College Street) is accessed from College Street next to the entrance to People's United Bank. Both garages offer two hours of free parking. The maximum daily parking rate at both garages is $8.00.
by tim
by John Herrick vtdigger.org Vermont has become the nation’s leader in solar jobs per capita – an achievement praised by the Shumlin administration, environmental groups and solar developers. But solar’s growth is not so bright for those near the state’s so-called “Solar Capital” in Rutland, who say they are struggling to keep up with the burgeoning industry.
Don Chioffi, clerk of the Rutland Town Select Board, said while Rutland City has been called the solar capital of the state (thanks to a notable Green Mountain Power project), Rutland Town – a rural community of about 6,000 citizens is not ready adopt that moniker because of the impact large solar could have on the town’s rural character.
by tim
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The Vermont Land Trust on Friday announced that it will not continue to support S.119 in its current form.
S.119, now in the House Judiciary Committee, would set criteria for conservation easement amendments and create a panel for reviewing the changes. Currently, there is no state law regulating conservation easement amendments.
The Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy have been working on the bill for two years and drafted much of the language.
Related stories
VTDigger: In perpetuity or not?
VPR: Is forever always forever?
One of the provisions in the legislation, a Category 3 amendment is highly controversial because it would give an easement-holder, typically a land trust, the ability to make major changes to the development rights as long as a special panel approves.
by og
Governor Peter Shumlin proposed a 5 percent budget increase in January, which included $14 million in new revenues and an array of spending initiatives. As the deadline for the Big Bill in the House approaches, it has become clear that lawmakers have no interest in raising taxes for new spending.
Last week the House Ways and Means Committee rejected the governor’s $14 million claims assessment proposal, which would have taxed every medical care transaction filed with a health insurance company. Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais and chair of the committee, said the Shumlin administration has not made it clear what the money is to be used for. Last year the House rejected a similar proposal.
Lawmakers are determined to balance the budget without the new revenue.
by og
by John Herrick vtdigger.org
The Senate approved a proposal Wednesday to expand a program that allows ratepayers to generate their own electricity and sell power to utilities. The bill, H.702, expands the state’s net metering program. Several utilities have stopped accepting applications from homeowners and businesses seeking to generate their own electricity because the program sets a limit on a utility’s total installed net metering wattage at peak demand.
The new cap – which the bill raises from 4 percent to 15 percent – will allow the program to continue for the next few years.
Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who chairs the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, took up the bill early this session.
by og
by Morgan True vtdigger.org Representative Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, isn’t satisfied with Governor Peter Shumlin’s decision to delay the presentation of financing options for single-payer to lawmakers before the end of the legislative session.
Browning sent a public records request to Shumlin’s health care financing expert asking to see the work he’s completed thus far on tax options to pay for Green Mountain Care, the Vermont’s planned universal health care program.
A fundamental premise of Green Mountain Care is to decouple health insurance from employment by paying for it with taxes instead of premiums.
“It is past time that this administration was asked to stand and deliver,” said Browning in an email release.
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org Health care providers and insurers joined Governor Peter Shumlin Wednesday to announce two new programs they hope will contain system-wide costs and improve treatment quality.
“We all know that as we move to the first sensible health care system in America we’ve got to find a way to deliver better quality care for less of a cost increase,” Shumlin told a group of reporters at the Green Mountain Care Board offices in Montpelier.
The so-called “shared-savings” programs announced at the press conference are offered by payers, in this case Medicaid and commercial insurers, to provider groups called Accountable Care Organizations.
Under the agreement, ACO providers will meet quality standards for the care of a patient population at an agreed upon cost. If the providers can meet the quality standards for less, they split the savings with the payer.