(Host) Negotiators in the House and Senate have reached agreement on next year’s budget, one of the final steps before adjournment.
The deal paves the way for the Legislature to adjourn tomorrow.
VPR’s John Dillon reports:
(Dillon) The budget negotiations sometime derail the progress toward adjournment. House and Senate leaders have to decide what to cut and what to include.
This year, even though money was very tight, the negotiations went fairly smoothly. Lamoille Senator Susan Bartlett chairs the Appropriations Committee. As both sides signed the agreement, Bartlett, thanked her colleagues from the House.
(Bartlett) “It’s nice to have a relationship with the other body, where you do trust each other And we take care of each other… and we don’t play games with it.”
(Dillon) The budget is around $1-point-2 billion dollars, about a 3 percent increase over last year.
Bartlett said lawmakers managed not to cut programs that affect the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
(Bartlett) “I think the fundamental tradeoff is that people don’t get more money. So they are forced to live within the money they have, so whether they are a state agency, or if you’re an organization that’s dependent on state funds, you’re going to have to keep restructuring to provide the services you want to provide in a more cost effective manner.”
(Dillon) Bartlett’s counterpart in the House, Westford Democrat Martha Heath, said her biggest regret was not being able to spend more on higher education and on child care support.
(Heath) “I feel like in a tight year, with not enough money to spend as we would have liked, we spent the money really carefully and wisely.”
(Dillon) But while the budget negotiators wrapped up their work with smiles, hugs and handshakes, it was a different scene in a nearby committee room.
(Smith) “So it sounds to me like we may have an impasse.”
(Cummings) “We may need to go back to our respective corners and discuss.”
(Smith) “That’s right, because I just don’t think we’ll be able to have deal.”
(Dillon) Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Anne Cummings and Morrisville Democrat Shap Smith said they weren’t budging over a couple of points in the miscellaneous tax bill.
The Senate position is that towns should be able to approve local sales taxes on their own – without legislative approval. The House position is a firm no.
(Smith) “With regard to the local option taxes, that’s actually a non-negotiable. And that comes from the absolute top.”
(Dillon) But the same legislative leaders are also pushing hard for a Saturday adjournment. Cummings said a deal was still possible.
(Cummings) “Things get moved quickly around here, so you don’t know until the end.”
(Dillon) And if they can’t reach a deal, the issue may get dropped until next year.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.