Current News

by Anne Galloway, www.vtdigger.org May 13, 2011 Though other states around the country have posted much higher tax receipt losses (last year the projected budget gap in Maine, for example, was $1 billion), Vermont has also experienced significant economic fallout over the last three years of the Great Recession.
When residents’ incomes drop, income tax collections fall proportionally. State spending meanwhile was on an upward trajectory, outstripping tax receipts by about $150 million on average each year for the last four years.
Until this year. Gov. Peter Shumlin and Democratic leaders in the Legislature bent the growth curve when they agreed to spend about $75 million less in General Fund dollars (state money derived from income taxes) on government services. The actual spending level in fiscal year 2012 will be 5.7 percent less than the total amount the state spent in fiscal year 2011 (including federal stimulus funds).

by Tom Pelham. Media coverage of the state budget has fallen prey to covering a contrived budget rather than the real budget. The contrived budget is one where legislative and administration budget staffs add up, as a planning exercise, an array of budgetary ‘pressures’ believed relevant and compare the sum to expected revenues. Last December, for example, the Governor’s Budget Office and the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office tallied general fund budgetary ‘pressures’ of $1.334 billion and expected revenues of $1.184 billion for fiscal 2012 and found an ‘estimated budget gap’ of $150 million. You can find this analysis here:
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/jfo/appropriations/FY12%20Consensus%20Budget%...

After 18 straight days, working at over a dozen sites along Lake Champlain, VTrans reported Friday that the majority of their effort to shore up roadways from flood damage is complete.
The tally of work over the past three weeks demonstrates more than one hundred and twenty five (125) state employees from all nine districts around the state worked side by side with private contractors and law enforcement personnel to ensure safe passage along roadways during some of the worst flooding in the state’s history.

The nation’s top entrepreneurs will gather this week to be recognized for their entrepreneurship, growth and success during the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week celebration, May 18-20, 2011, in Washington, DC.
Under the theme Empowering Entrepreneurs,’ the three-day event at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center will highlight business owners from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, whose business achievements have contributed to job creation, the economy and to the nation’s recovery. The National Small Business Person of the Year will be named from this group on Friday, May 20.
Awards will also be presented for notable achievements in disaster recovery, government procurement, small business advocacy, and to top-performing SBA resource and lending partners.
Featured Speakers at National Small Business Week will include:

Do you have a problem saying sounds, or coming out with the right word? Do you think you stutter? Have you had a stroke or brain injury that interferes with your speaking, thinking or memory? Are you worried that you are losing your hearing? In Celebration of Better Speech & Hearing Month, the Speech-Language & Swallowing Disorders Department at North Country Hospital is offering FREE 15 min Speech and Hearing Screens to the Public. The screenings will take place throughout the month of May in the Speech Department office on the 1st Floor of the Medical Arts Building.
Please call the general Rehabilitation number 334-3260, and schedule your 15 min appt .If you have questions, call 334-3260 and ask for Extension 464 to speak with Lisa Erwin-Davidson, Clinical Supervisor.

FairPoint Communications has released information regarding its expansion of broadband Internet coverage to several more neighborhoods across Vermont as part of its commitment to bring total high-speed Internet coverage to half of its exchanges this year.
Here is the latest availability report. FairPoint’s high-speed Internet service will reach customers along all or portions of the following streets:
Bakersfield and Enosburg Falls: Bakersfield, Cold Hollow, Cook Brook, Hill, Peaked Hill, Town Road 3 and Witchcat.
Derby: Allendale, Beebe, Can-American, Cottage, Cousen’s, Dairninaka, Darling Hill, Derby, Jayview, Johns River, Lake, Lake Circle, Lake View, Nield’s, Pinewood, Pleasan, Poulin Farm, Prevost, Roberts, Sunset Acres, Upper Quarry, Whispering Pines, White Pines, White Birch and Woods Farm.
Duxbury: Camels Hump, Mountainview, Ridley, Scrabble Hill and Vilcins.

Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) today announced that it has acquired seismic survey software provider Dynamic Survey Solutions, Inc of Essex. The acquisition is expected to expand Trimble's presence in the seismic survey industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dynamic Survey Solutions' GPSeismic suite of software applications are designed specifically for the seismic survey industry to process and manage data. The applications run on the Windows XP, Vista, and 7 operating systems (both 32 and 64 bit). GPSeismic supports more than 50 types of survey instruments ranging from GPS to inertial and conventional survey systems and offers a comprehensive set of tools for the land seismic surveyor. The software suite is used worldwide by geophysical contractors, seismic survey companies, oil companies and survey audit companies.

FairPoint Communications will donate a combined $3,000 to three Vermont nonprofit organizations based on a corporate financial match program for FairPoint employees who are actively involved in community activities.
The FairPoint Volunteer Incentive Program recognizes employees’ contributions of time and talent to nonprofit organizations near where they live and work. Employees who volunteer at least 50 hours per year can ask that FairPoint reward the organization with a $750 grant. Any northern New England FairPoint full-time employee can request donated funds on behalf of two separate organizations for a total of $1,500 year.
Favorite nonprofits of FairPoint employees include:
· Little League Baseball ($750), made possible through the generous contributions of time and talent from FairPoint employee Rene DeLaricheliere of St. Albans.

by Anne Galloway, www.vtdigger.org May 13, 2011 Terry Rowe, executive director of the Vermont State Hospital, announced her resignation Thursday. She has served as head of the state facility for severely mentally ill patients for seven years.
In an e-mail, Rowe told the 240 staff members of the hospital that she decided she will leave her position this summer because of ‘major shifts’ in the new administration’s vision for mental health service.
Rowe said in an interview that the Shumlin administration officials are ‘good people’ and ‘there’s a lot of energy and optimism in the air ‘ I’m just really tired.’

Several members of the Southern Vermont College community were named finalists or award recipients for the 2011 Vermont Campus Compact (VCC) Higher Education Conference, as a result of their commitment to service-learning. VCC is a consortium of Vermont’s colleges and universities committed to the civic purposes of higher education. In April, two SVC students, an SVC faculty member and the SVC Provost were honored for their accomplishments at a statewide Recognition Reception and Ceremony at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Montpelier.
Andrea Stoddard of Kerhonkson, N.Y., received the Commitment to Service and Engagement Award for her community involvement. Currently a sophomore majoring in Entrepreneurship and Management at SVC, she is a founding member of MooseCorps, a campus community service club where she provides leadership to the group. She is also Vice President of the Student Government Association and a member of the Student Activities Squad.

As part of its ongoing effort at resource conservation, and to explore and deploy clean, fuel-efficient vehicles, Casella Waste Systems today opened a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in Chittenden County, its first facility companywide.
Natural gas-powered trucks and vehicles are among the cleanest vehicles available and, with the discovery of new natural gas in North America, natural gas prices have decreased significantly. In addition they also have significantly lowered tailpipe emissions.

On May 11, 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing concern over the recent AT&T/T-Mobile merger. He emphasized the importance of the company to follow through with its proposals. The speech reads as follows:
Today, we examine the competitive impact of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. This acquisition would combine the Nation’s second and fourth largest providers of wireless communications, and will have a lasting impact on the wireless industry. At present, four companies control nearly 90 percent of the national wireless market. The proposed acquisition would further consolidate an already concentrated market for wireless communication.