Legislative budget writers are hearing from providers and recipients of human services programs in Vermont that Gov. Jim Douglas’ proposed budget cuts would be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committee took testimony Monday evening in a hearing conducted via Vermont Interactive Television, with people testifying from VIT studios around the state.
A common theme was that cutting programs that help disabled Vermonters will make them less able to live independently and make services to them more costly to the state in the long run.
The committees have been struggling to come up with cuts to balance a budget which was said at the beginning of the current legislative session to be $150 million out of balance.