Vermont Governor Phil Scott delivered his second State of the State Thursday. The Republican is calling for continued fiscal restraint. Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint, a Democrat, was in the chamber in Montpelier. She says there are some areas where they agree, but she questions if the governor’s fiscal austerity policy is viable over the long-term.
“We absolutely concur that we must reverse the demographic trends in Vermont and that it does need to be a top priority. We do have an aging population in Vermont. We’re one of the oldest demographically and it is impacting our schools and our workforce. So we do agree with that. The area in which we differ is that when he talks about protecting the most vulnerable, when he talks about building a more robust workforce, we know that this will take some money and resources to make this happen. And he talks about putting Vermonters first but there doesn’t seem to be any real policy initiatives connected with raising revenue to pay for those things. And so that’s a concern that we have.”
Vermont Governor Phil Scott will deliver his budget address to the Legislature in three weeks.