Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Bruce Lisman, a retired JP Morgan and Chase executive who lives in Shelburne and recently established Campaign for Vermont. Lisman attended Burlington public schools before going on to graduate from the University of Vermont.
Recently, I announced the formation of Campaign for Vermont, a public policy campaign to unite Vermonters from a broad spectrum of political perspectives around a new direction for our future. Imagine economic security, better job opportunities and growing prosperity for Vermonters of every generation. Joining me as Founding Officers are Tom Pelham and Mary Alice McKenzie along with 22 Founding Partners from across Vermont.
Public policy and public budgeting is about real people, real families – that is why we need to have real results. Vermonters are innovators who can overcome economic challenges, grow our economy, and create more and better-paying jobs.
But it’s time to use modern technology to make Vermont state government totally transparent and accountable to every citizen. A government that works for its citizens would tell us where it spends our money, but also how well it spends our money. First, let’s explain how our statewide property tax actually works; so everyone understands it.
Take a typical Vermont property tax bill. Its imbedded calculations and legalized jargon such as “equalized pupils”, “base education amounts”, “total education spending versus education spending”, “common level of appraisal”, “TIF exemptions”, “homestead property tax adjustment”, “base homestead and non-residential tax rates”, to name a few, completely fog the view of education funding for most Vermonters.
Or take hidden “cost shifts” that mask the real costs of our state government. We now “shift” $178 million of the state’s Medicaid costs onto private health insurers. We now “shift” $160 million in income sensitivity payments from one set of property tax payers to another. And the Public Service Board has voted to “shift” millions more onto the electric bills of residential and commercial ratepayers to fund efficiency programs and expensive subsidies to wind, hydro, and solar developers.
While some of these state expenditures may be appropriate, the unwieldy complexity of state government complicated by the use of “cost shifts” makes a mockery of the concept of transparency. What good, we might ask, are calls for more transparency through which to view the behavior and operations of state government if the government itself has become so byzantine, so Rube Goldberg and so complex that a PHD is necessary to determine whether our government is working well?
Campaign for Vermont proposes these actions.
First, we must simplify and consolidate programs that serve similar missions. The effectiveness of such programs will be far more transparent if combined. For example, it is not essential that programs supporting farmers be spread over the agencies of Agriculture and Commerce and Community Development and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. It is not essential that the Weatherization and LIHEAP programs be housed at the Agency of Human Services while electric efficiency programs are overseen by Efficiency Vermont.
Second, we need to eliminate “cost shifts”. These hidden taxes total hundreds of millions of dollars with no transparent way to measure them. If our state leaders desire to create and expand programs, then they should do it in full view of the public.
Third, a state spending “dash board” must be created, possibly at the Auditor’s or the State Treasurer’s Office, so Vermonters can go to one place to view key indicators to see and evaluate the effectiveness of their state government.
Accountability is among the most essential pillars of a strong democracy. Transparency informs whether our programs are effective and what adjustments are needed to reach our goals. A government “of the people” is one that allows for a clear view of what government does and how well it does it. Such a government welcomes citizens by providing them with credible information, transparency and accountability.
The economic situation facing Vermonters and the lack of government transparency ignited me into action. Campaign for Vermont will draw attention to the need for a robust non-partisan debate of the issues affecting all Vermonters.
