MONTPELIER – Lawmakers gathered last Wednesday for an annual legislative briefing, a refresher on the state’s revenues and budget with a focus on two of the most pressing topics of the day: education finance and housing.
photo by Natalie Williams, VTDigger
“What I would ask you is this: What is your prize for having won?” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, asked the room of roughly 100 legislators, newly elected and incumbents alike.
Telling lawmakers it was up to them to decide which issues to prioritize, he added, “That’s what we’ll begin to do today, decide what to do with the time given us by the voters.”
If the briefing’s agenda served as a tone-setter for the coming session, which starts in January, then lawmakers can expect to spend the year reconsidering how public school is paid for and tackling the state’s dire need for more housing.
That matches the declared priorities of the two major parties. Republicans in the Vermont House began Wednesday morning with a press conference highlighting education finance reform as the next session’s key issue. Democrats have likewise stated they will hit the ground running by treating rising property taxes as an emergency.
The legislature’s fiscal experts, who walked lawmakers through the day’s agenda, had mixed news to share.
“The goal today is to provide you with vital information and give you some context for the upcoming legislative session,” Catherine Benham, who heads up the Legislative Joint Fiscal Office, told lawmakers.
Legislative economist Tom Kavet said that, on a macroeconomic level, Vermont, and the U.S., is in good shape.
“The economy, by the numbers, has rarely looked as good as it does now,” he said.
Revenues across state government’s three major funds, the General Fund, Education Fund and Transportation Fund, were up from earlier projections about $61 million through October, according to Kavet.
He also addressed the potential economic impacts of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, ranging from limited immigration to widespread tariffs, though he warned lawmakers it was too soon to say what effects potential changes could bring.
Members of the Joint Fiscal Office staff offered a slightly less rosy picture of the state’s future budget cycles.
“One of the major takeaways of our presentation,” associate fiscal officer Chris Rupe told lawmakers, is that “revenue growth in future years is likely to be slower than the cost pressures you all are facing in state government.”
State revenues are expected to slow, especially compared to the “big spike” that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
Lawmakers received a broad overview of Vermont’s complex education finance system. Included in that review was what exactly this week’s letter from the Vermont Department of Taxes, projecting a 5.9% property tax increase next year, means and how that number might change.
And to close the day, three of Vermont’s housing development leaders discussed what they described as the most effective housing legislation of recent years, including Act 250 and zoning reform.
“I think every committee has a role to play,” Gus Seelig, executive director of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, said. “There’s something for each of you to do to help make our work, and the work of welcoming Vermonters to their homes, a little bit easier.”
