Current News

GS Precision, Inc, based in Brattleboro, Vermont, has completed the acquisition of 100 percent of the stock of Knappe & Koester, Inc, based in Keene, NH.
‘I am extremely pleased that we were able to complete this transaction,’ said GS Precision CEO Norm Schneeberger. ‘K&K is an outstanding company with an excellent reputation in our industry. The merging of our companies will allow us to provide significantly increased capacity for our customers as well as more diverse manufacturing capabilities. As a combined entity, we are more than 500 employees strong, the majority of whom have significant manufacturing and technical experience. Our facilities total more than 200,000 square feet and we now have more than 220 CNC machines, including 20 5-axis machining centers, as well as in-house special processes, tool manufacturing, and engineering. I look forward to working with both the K&K and GSP teams as we begin the process of integrating our companies.’

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org A Middlebury recycler has put his building up for sale and scaled back payroll after confusion over a state contract left him without enough business to continue operating.
Robin Ingenthron of Good Point Recycling lost a bid to Casella Waste Systems in August to run Vermont’s electronic waste recycling program. Good Point had run the Vermont ‘e-cycles’ program for its first three years of operation, and the Agency of Natural Resources had been pleased with the program.
But when renewal negotiations with Good Point faltered, ANR went with Casella instead. Good Point’s subsequent lawsuit, alleging improper procurement practices by the state, was punted to Vermont Environmental Court. Ingenthron agreed to drop the case when his application was approved in November.

New unemployment claims fell again last week, but les dramatically than the previous week. Claims remain at a seasonally high level. For’ the week of January 4, 2014, there were 988 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 93 from the previous week's total, and 35 fewer than they were a year ago.
Mathew Barewicz, economic and labor market information chief at the Vermont Department of Labor, said the high unemployment claim pattern is typical this time of year in Vermont, he said, as the economy transitions from warm to cold weather labor requirements and also reflects temporary hires and layoffs.
Altogether 9,864 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 445 from a week ago and 151 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 324 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 304 fewer than the same number a week ago.

RE/MAX Winning Advantage in Rutland is pleased to announce that they have recently acquired Century 21 Premiere Properties, also in Rutland. The franchise name will change to RE/MAX Premiere Properties and will open its doors at 210 South Main Street. With the acquisition of the new office, RE/MAX Premiere Properties will now have the number one market share by volume and units in Rutland County.
‘This’ is an incredibly exciting time for everyone on the team,’ said RE/MAX Premiere Properties Broker/Owner Ed Patch.’ ‘Our goal is to continue to strengthen our team, expand our footprint and attract productive Agents.’
RE/MAX’ Premiere Properties will continue to run as’ a full-service real estate company offering residential real estate sales.’ They will continue to provide their customers with the most experienced, professional Agents available prepared to help with the buying and selling process of homes, condos, commercial properties, and land in Vermont.

The Shumlin administration official who is designing a tax structure for Green Mountain Care ‘ Vermont’s proposed universal health care system ‘ said Friday there are multiple ways Vermont can generate the needed revenues, but it’s too early to discuss any of the options.
Michael Costa, deputy commissioner for Health Care Reform, rejected the premise that Vermont’s only way to finance universal health care is a payroll tax.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org A state program allowing residents to generate their own electricity ran into unexpected roadblocks last year. But now lawmakers have a plan to open up the state’s so-called ‘net metering’ program to match the growing demand for residential renewable energy generation.
A bill, approved by the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Friday, offers a fast-track solution ahead of larger changes expected when a federal solar tax credit expires, likely in 2017.
Several utilities in Vermont reached the current statutory limit for net metering capacity on their systems last year. Net metering allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to feed electricity they do not use back into the grid.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The first glimpse of a substantive proposal to finance Vermont’s planned universal health care system came Thursday at a sparsely attended meeting of the Senate Republican Caucus.
Peter Galbraith and John Campbell from 2012. vtdigger pic.
The caucus invited Sen. Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, to speak about his proposal, laid out in two separate bills, S.252 and S.254, to pay for Green Mountain Care, the public entity that will administer the state’s single-payer system.
S.252 would create a tax structure to pay for the reformed health care system.
The lion’s share of revenue, $1.45 billion, would be raised through a payroll tax at a rate of 11 percent on employers and 2 percent on employees.
‘Unlike any other tax, the payroll tax on employers is a deductible business expense, and therefore the federal government picks up a third of the cost,’ Galbraith said.

Vermont dropped to 33rd place in the nation with a D+ in the 2014 American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) state-by-state report card on America’s emergency care environment. A lack of statewide planning and policies in the category of Disaster Preparedness contributed to this drop. In 2009, Vermont received an overall C grade and ranked 21st in the nation.’ The US overall also dropped to D+.

Adirondacks ACO has been selected as one of 123 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Medicare, providing approximately 1.5 million more Medicare beneficiaries with access to high‐quality, coordinated care across the United States, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.
Doctors, hospitals and health care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher‐quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care cost growth. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 360 (ACOs) have been established, serving over 5.3 million Americans with Medicare. Beneficiaries seeing health care providers in ACOs always have the freedom to choose doctors inside or outside of the ACO. ACOs share with Medicare any savings generated from lowering the growth in health care costs when they meet standards for high quality care.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Next year doesn’t look too bad for Vermont’s economy, according to the state’s economists. Jeff Carr and Tom Kavet on Thursday delivered an optimistic revenue forecast for fiscal year 2015, which starts July 1.’
Governor Shumlin looks over an employment chart. Photos by Vermont Business Magazine.
Carr, who serves Governor Peter Shumlin, and Kavet, who reports to the joint fiscal committees of the Legislature, together maintain a projection of tax revenues the state can expect each year. The consensus revenue forecast, as adopted by the Emergency Board, is the projected income on which the state budget is based.
Because revenues leading up to Thursday’s meeting had come in very close to projections, very little was changed in the existing forecast for FY15 and beyond.

Darn Tough Vermont, American manufacturer of the fastest growing collection of performance socks, reports that 2013 sales and profitability were the best yet in its, and parent company Cabot Hosiery’s, 35-year history with 2013 revenue up 78 percent over 2012.
‘We ended 2013 with a strong quarter that was 38 percent over plan, and are extremely proud of our continued growth in a highly competitive industry,’ says Ric Cabot, president and CEO of Darn Tough Vermont.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The Vermont Senate passed a campaign finance bill on Thursday that Democrats and Republicans alike openly questioned. After an hourlong debate, in which the legislation was characterized as a necessary stopgap, senators held their noses and passed the legislation 20-8.
The legislation, S.82, now awaits the governor’s signature.
The state’s previous campaign finance law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006. Vermont has, in effect, had no legal rules in place since that time. In the meantime, the courts have struck down laws that would limit independent expenditures made on behalf of candidates for mass media buys.
The bill, which was originally conceived of as a vehicle for reform of the current system, was seen by many as a step backward. Nevertheless, a majority of Democrats, who dominate the Senate and stand to gain the most from the bill, supported it.