Several organizations around Vermont weighed-in on Governor Shumlin's budget Address. Here is a selection from a few of them.
ROUNDTABLE APPLAUDS GOVERNORS EDUCATION AGENDA
Roundtable Chair Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power, stated that The Governors budget address today strikes the important balance of needed investments in education as the primary driver of economic development strategy, as well as the tough budget decisions that we must make to keep Vermont competitive.
We applaud the Governors bold education agenda as it aligns with the concerns of the Vermont Business Roundtable, and the education policy initiatives that we have sought for some time. We Vermonters must be prepared to make tough decisions and move ahead on programs that create long-term prosperity. As a state, we will only be the best by being brave. This is a brave agenda.
Beginning with its 1998 groundbreaking initiatives such as, Born to Read, which put books into the hands of new mothers and their six-week old babies; Medallion School Awards; and, Young Writers Project; and, more recently, through its recent PreK and home visiting initiatives, and Nordic Educational Trust scholarships for technical education, the Roundtable business leaders have been unrelenting in their focus on linking education with economic development outcomes. The Governor has clearly established that he, like the Roundtable, holds the child and student squarely in the center of the policy discussion, said Roundtable Immediate Past Chair, Steve Voigt, CEO of King Arthur Flour, who has championed PreK initiatives at the national level.
Vermont will not have the workforce capable of meeting the challenges presented by the advances of the next 20 years until we have effective, adaptable education systems to maximize opportunities for each and every Vermont citizen, beginning with the youngest among us. This is a very positive and powerful statement by the Governor, said Bill Stritzler, Managing Director of Smugglers Notch Resort, former Board Chair and Chair of the Task Force that authored the Roundtables seminal policy paper entitled, Having the Courage to Change: How We Can Avoid the Coming Workforce Crisis. That 2006 report contained a series of guidelines spanning and linking all aspects of the education continuum from PreK to post-secondary learning.
Vermonters for Health Care Freedom
Governors Health Finance Report Calls for $1.6 Billion Tax Increase
Montpelier, VT Observers of Governor Shumlins Budget Address may have been disappointed at the lack of attention given to health care finance. Indeed, only about two minutes of the speech were devoted to health care and no specifics were offered. But the long-awaited and 9-day overdue report from the University of Massachusetts Center for Health Law and Economics and Wakely Consulting was released later in the day. The report lacked a great deal but contained a key number: The state must raise $1.611 billion a year to finance single payer health care.
$1.6 billion is over two and one half times what Vermonters pay in income taxes, and nearly five times what the state collects in sales and use taxes.
The report, which the state paid $300,000 to produce, contains surprisingly little information within its 91 pages. There is no multi-year budget or projection, and the Act 48-required recommendation for a funding source is completely absent.
At first blush the report raises more questions than it answers. But one thing is very clear; Governor Shumlin is avoiding the question of funding single payer as though it were the Political Grim Reaper. And now we know why, said Jeff Wennberg, executive director of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom.
Wennberg pointed out that the bottom line of $1.6 billion is not significantly different from an analysis conducted by Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton in 2011, which showed a need for $1.8 billion in new taxes. The report goes to great length to show how single payer will use federal dollars to reduce costs to Vermonters and Vermont businesses. Some of these assumptions, such as the assumption that the federal government will increase Medicaid support by $249 million as a result of single payer, are questionable, Wennberg said. But even so, a $1.6 billion tax increase has got to come from somewhere. Any claim of savings should be withheld until we have an answer to that question.
Vermonters for Health Care Freedom will perform an in-depth analysis of the report, including a review of the Health Benefits Exchange funding plan which is not addressed here.
Statement by Renewable Energy Vermont Executive Director, Gabrielle Stebbins: Regarding Clean Energy Development Fund
"The action by the Legislature's Emergency Board and announced today in the Governor's Budget Address to provide $5 million to the Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) is a win-win for Vermonters. It promotes small scale renewable energy generation, while spurring local economic development and local jobs. Every $1 invested by the CEDF in the state incentive program results in more than $4 in other funding. The successes of this program are phenomenal, resulting in more than 2,000 small scale renewable projects, as well as significant support for farm methane, district heat projects and more."