“You ask me where my money goes, to buy my sweetheart fancy clothes.” — From a nursery rhyme
The state of Vermont will invest $4.7 billion this year on a wide array of expenditures — construction projects, technology, roads, bridges, schools, higher education, economic development, health care and assistance for Vermonters.
The General Fund budget, which excludes education, transportation, capital investments in infrastructure and some Medicaid expenditures, is about $1.47 billion this year. The state started out with a $154 million deficit for fiscal year 2011, which the Douglas administration and the Legislature resolved, with the exception of $8 million in unidentified savings through the Challenges for Change government restructuring plan. The budget also relies on federal stimulus money for investments in information technology and a new secure mental hospital.
The budget, which passed on Wednesday as lawmakers reached adjournment, brings the looming fiscal year 2012 deficit of $250 million down to $113 million, according to the Joint Fiscal Office.
Schools spent $22 million less on education this year, and lawmakers banked on those savings to keep property taxes at 2010 levels (86 cents for homestead property and $1.35 for nonresidential property) and to reduce the General Fund contribution to the Education Fund by $6 million.
Human services programs took the biggest hit –$54.5 million — from the General Fund budget, $35.7 million through straight cuts, plus $18.8 million in savings through Challenges for Change.
While politicians like to talk about values in rhetorical terms, there’s nothing abstract about how they spend taxpayers’ money.
Sometimes numbers tell their own stories.
What follows is a sampling of expenditures, with a brief explanation of where the money goes.
The capital budget, $74 million
The state will invest $26.7 million in its own buildings. The replacement of the Bennington office building, for example, is slated to cost $7 million, plus $2 million for a geothermal heating system.
Lawmakers booked $8 million for major maintenance for structures statewide, including $400,000 in window replacements at the Waterbury office complex and $1.25 million in infrastructure repairs to 133 State St.
A new greasetrap at the Chittenden County Correctional facility is booked at $335,000; meanwhile the total cost to keep the state’s historic sites up to snuff? $565,000.
Lawmakers have also authorized the Department of Buildings and General Services to spend $100,000 to refurbish and refurnish three committee rooms in the Statehouse.
The Vermont Telecommunications Authority will use $4.5 million to leverage as much as $40 million in federal funds for statewide broadband infrastructure.
A set aside of $1.45 million will be used for VIEWS, the “Vermont Integrated Eligibility Workflow System,” which would automate the eligibility determination process for Medicaid and other health care programs, according to the Department of Information and Innovation.
The land acquisition, design and construction documents and permitting costs for a new health laboratory come in at $4.7 million – not including construction. Total state aid for school construction? $7 million.
Vermont Interactive Television will receive $290,085 to buy equipment and $785,000 for operating expenses (from the appropriations bill); the University of Vermont and the Vermont State Colleges receive $2 million each for construction projects.
We’ll spend about $4 million on wastewater treatment and sewer abatement, $2.5 million on park infrastructure improvements.
The new public safety headquarters will cost the state $3.2 million, and the state’s armories are getting $850,000 for renovations.
The budget, $4.7 billion
The biggest ticket item is the total cost of human services programs: $1.87 billion. Here is a rundown on how that money is distributed.
- $327 million for the Department of Vermont Health Access (formerly known as the Office of Vermont Health Access). The Department runs all of the state’s public health insurance programs – Catamount Health, Dr. Dynasaur, Medicaid, the Vermont Health Access Plan and VPharm. The Medicaid, or Global Commitment, funding for state-supported health care is $632 million.
- $325 million for the Department of Children and Families, for foster care, Reach up, food stamps, support payments for the blind and disabled, child care, child development and child protection.
- $212 million for the Department of Aging and Independent Living, for long-term care, and programs for autism, traumatic brain injury, supported employment, dementia respite programs and developmental disability services.
- $144 million on the state’s prisons and payments to Corrections Corporations of America for more than 600 offenders who are housed in Kentucky and Tennessee. It costs about $25,000 per inmate for CCA “beds,” and about $50,000 to house a prisoner in-state. The total prison population is about 2,200. Under the Challenges for Change proposal, which along with S.292 will allow for the release of several hundred prisoners and prevent the incarceration of several hundred more, the state hopes to bring the total number of inmates down to 1,800.
- $134.5 million for mental health services, $23 million for the Vermont State Hospital, $31 million for alcohol and substance abuse.
The second largest item on the books is education, which costs $1.86 billion. In addition to the total amount distributed to schools $1.138, the total includes a $75 million contribution to teacher’s retirement this year (down from $90 million thanks to a new agreement between the state and the teacher’s union), technical education ($12 million), early education ($5.6 million), small school grants ($7 million).
The cost of general government is $190 million in fiscal year 2011. The tax department, for example, will run on about $15.7 million. The cost to operate the state’s buildings will be $43.5 million, while the state’s retirement system will run about $34 million.
What will all those lawmakers cost us? Roughly about $11.5 million.
The Agency of Agriculture will spend $13.4 million; the Agency of Natural Resources will cost $85.5 million. The Public Service Department and Board is slated for the $32 million mark. We will spend $66 million through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
Public safety will cost the state more than $200 million — $54 million on the state police and $37 million on the court system. In addition, the Defender General’s office will receive about $12 million; the state’s attorney’s offices run about $10 million and $11 million goes to crime victim services.
The state’s share of Homeland Security is $12.3 million, and we will spend $12 million on an army service contract.
The state will also make contributions to higher education, including:
Transportation, $582 million
The transportation budget is flush, thanks to federal stimulus funds. The state will receive about $80 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
- The state will spend $27.2 million in federal money for track improvements for a passenger rail spur from Burlington to Rutland. All of the money for the Amtrak Vermonter—New England Central Railroad comes from federal stimulus funds.
- Roughly 20 percent of this year’s transportation budget will be spent on bridge maintenance, repair and replacement.
- A sixth of the transportation budget will be spent on paving.
- Public transit will receive $24.7 million — $1.5 million less than last year.
- The state contribution to Amtrak is $19.4 million this year, and the Park and Ride budget is $8.8 million.
- Town highway funding is $58.2 million.
- VTrans has $23.8 million slated for aviation investments.
- Rest areas will receive $4.82 million, about $2 million of which is from a congressional earmark for a new rest area facility in Bennington. No rest areas that have been closed will be reopened.
