The Douglas administration is asking for $16.4 million in budget changes for fiscal year 2010 (July 1 2009-June 30, 2010). The House Committee on Appropriations has been taking testimony this week from agency secretaries about the budget changes, which include $2.6 million for 118 additional out-of-state beds for an unanticipated increase in the number of Vermont inmates, the elimination of $408,700 in grants for municipal planning and $965,000 in additional costs for the Retirement Health Insurance system.
Jim Reardon, Commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management, said in a speech on Tuesday that the budget adjustments do not represent significant “policy changes” or “expenditure reductions.”
Throughout the three days of hearings held at the Statehouse, lawmakers and administration officials have alluded to the fiscal challenges of next year’s budget. The Joint Fiscal Office reports that the state budget gap could be between $141 million and $160 million.
Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, Martha Heath, D-Westford, remarked on Tuesday after Reardon’s speech, “I’ve never seen (the budget adjustment bill) on my desk this early and I really appreciate it. It will give us a leg up toward getting these out of the way and move on to 2011.”
Vtdigger.org is attending the hearings and will provide more video clips of agency testimony and of Reardon’s speech on the deficit Vermont faces in 2011 later today.
Video clips from Tuesday of Reardon’s speech and testimony from the budget and management director, Otto Trautz, follow.
