Vermont Governor Phil Scott delivered his budget address virtually to a joint session of the legislature Tuesday afternoon, outlining a $7.7 billion spending plan.
Governor Scott says the 2023 fiscal plan focuses on stabilizing and incentivizing workforce development; housing expansion, and allocating the state’s remaining $600 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funding. The Republican emphasized that the infusion of federal money has presented the state with a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“In my 21 years in public life there has never been a more transformative moment. We have within our grasp the chance to combine good ideas, thoughtful legislation and unprecedented financial resources into a better, brighter future,” said Scott. “The budget I present to you today was built with these outcomes in mind to make the most of this historic moment. In total, this budget invests a record $7.7 billion without raising taxes and in fact returns money to taxpayers.”
A key focus of Scott’s budget is workforce needs.
“Since February 2020 we have lost 24,000 people from our workforce. That 24,000 is larger than the population of every city and town in Vermont other than Burlington. This is a massive piece of our economy,” Scott continued. “If we make it our top priority this session, we can take full advantage of the opportunity before us to reverse these trends.”
The governor proposed $8.5 million over the next three years to create a regional network to recruit and relocate families to Vermont. But the state needs housing to accommodate them. Scott cited data from the Vermont Association of Realtors that there are currently only 136 affordable homes for sale that a middle income family can afford.
“So we must do more using ARPA funds. I propose $15 million to encourage the construction of homes for middle-income Vermonters,” declared Scott. “And we should invest another $105 million for affordable, mixed-income housing.”
Governor Scott outlined a series of proposals to lower the tax burden including exempting military retirement income from state taxes, exempting more retirees’ Social Security income tax, increasing the earned income tax credit, and providing a student loan interest deduction. He also proposed increasing the state allocation to the University of Vermont.
“I think it’s important to note that UVM hasn’t raised tuition in three years in order to help students," the governor said. "So for the first time in 14 years I’m asking to increase UVM’s base budget by $10 million.”
The governor also added $5 million to the Vermont State Colleges base budget.
Vermont Senate Pro Tem Becca Balint, a Democrat who is running for Congress, says it’s refreshing to be able to talk about a budget without potential cuts. She says there is broad agreement on some of the big ticket items but they want to make sure tax investments are narrowly tailored for the greatest impact.
“The governor did put forth a variety of tax credit ideas that were not really an integrated solution for working families. The other thing we were hoping to hear more about is having the governor more engaged on solving the pension issue here in Vermont, which has been such a big story for the last year,” said Balint. “The governor and his team have signaled their willingness to engage with us on the solution that we put forward. But we were hoping to hear some dollar figure attached to additional money that he would be willing to put in the budget for that solution.”
