(Host) Governor Peter Shumlin has proposed a budget for next year that maintains most state programs without relying on any new revenue:
(Shumlin) "Today I present a budget that closes a $51 million shortfall without raising broad based taxes on hard working Vermonters who continue to struggle to make ends meet. The budget also preserves programs for Vermont‘s most vulnerable."
(Host) And as VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports, the governor’s plan also calls for a major reorganization of state employees, and several initiatives to encourage job growth.
(Kinzel) To help stimulate the state economy, the governor proposed expanding the lending capacity of the Vermont Economic Development Authority by $30 million and he also wants to give $4 million to both UVM and the Vermont State College system to develop innovative programs linking higher education and job growth.
He also made a pledge to towns hit hard by Irene.
(Shumlin) "For those towns whose storm damage completely overwhelms their ability to pay, the state will pay your entire share of the FEMA match. My message to towns is clear. We stand with you all the way as we rebuild together."
(Kinzel) After Irene hit, 1500 state employees who worked at the state office complex in Waterbury were relocated to temporary office space in Chittenden and Washington counties.
Shumlin says this situation offers the state an opportunity to bring several agencies under one roof so that they can work more closely together.
(Shumlin) "It should be clear from the effective collaboration of the past four months, between the Agencies of Transportation, Natural Resources and Commerce, that they be collocated and integrated on a permanent basis."
(Kinzel) Shumlin wants to locate these three agencies at the National Life Center in Montpelier and he proposed moving the Department of Education from locations in Montpelier and Berlin to a proposed new office building in downtown Barre.
Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding says another goal is to consolidate more than 1,000 Human Service agency employees in a new building in Waterbury but he says that decision will be determined by a special architectural study that looks at the cost of mitigating flood damage at the Waterbury site.
(Spaulding) "The governor I think correctly feels that you’ve got to look at the numbers. If it’s somewhat more expensive to stay in Waterbury, fine. If it’s like really prohibitive I mean the taxpayers have an expectation we’re going to take those into consideration with the Legislature in making that decision. But it would be ideal if we can do it in Waterbury."
(Kinzel) The Governor’s budget also postpones the implementation of a 10 million dollar program to provide Medicaid recipients with autistic services and he hopes to increase the size of the state’s rainy day fund.
The spending plan will now be scrutinized by the House and Senate Appropriations committees.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.
Listen to Shumlin’s budget address by clicking ‘Listen’ above.