[W]ork on the state budget bill is in full swing in the Senate.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is taking testimony on the appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016, and many advocates hope that legislators will restore some of the funding for services slated for cuts under the spending plan approved by the House last month.
H.490, known in the Statehouse simply as the “big bill,” represents a 4.8 percent increase in general fund expenditures over the current year’s budget. The total expenditures ring in at $1.48 billion.
In closing the $113 million gap between projected revenues and estimated spending for the next fiscal year, the House Appropriations Committee found some $53 million in cuts and restructuring of state services.
At a three-hour hearing Tuesday, three dozen advocates made their cases to the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“We need a budget that puts people first,” said Nicole LeBlanc, speaking on behalf of Green Mountain Self Advocates, a developmental service program.
Vermonters with developmental disabilities would see a $880,000 cut in state support for services if the Senate adopts the House budget. The developmental services program is matched by federal funds. In all, the reduction would be $1.9 million in state and federal funds for fiscal year 2016.
LeBlanc asked legislators to put any leftover budget funds toward developmental services. She concluded by asking lawmakers to consider raising revenue.
In addition to the $33.2 million raised through reforms to state income tax in the revenue bill, lawmakers are considering a water quality bill, which raises $8 million, and a health care bill, which has not yet gone to the House floor. If all three bills pass, Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, said, it would equal “significant revenue.”
However, Kitchel said the advocates’ hearing is important for understanding the diversity and significance of services the state supports.
“It’s very easy for people to say that we need to reduce spending and today’s testimony I think really puts those decisions in a very different context,” Kitchel said.
Kellie Merrell, who works for the Agency of Natural Resources, invoked President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in her testimony on behalf of the Vermont State Employees Association.
The budget approved by the House included the governor’s recommendation to find $10.8 million in labor and personnel savings across state government. According to notifications sent out to state departments from Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson, as many as 325 state jobs could be cut.
Merrell urged lawmakers to abandon “the lingo of trickle-down economics and tea party no-tax mantras,” and to avoid cutting government services under the budget.
“Raise the revenue needed to provide necessary services and achieve important goals for the state,” Merrell said.
Erhard Mahnke of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition suggested that lawmakers reconsider a $750,000 reduction to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board if the state gets an “April surprise,” meaning a higher than expected level of revenue as a result of 2014 income tax filings.
Mark Redmond, executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, said the state is not doing enough to support the work that his organization is doing.
He said that lack of state funding left Spectrum with a $155,000 loss last year in a program that works with men to reduce domestic violence. In his view, the program is helping state agencies like the Department of Corrections and others save money by reducing recidivism rates.
However, Redmond said, “all of these entities that are benefiting are not contributing at all.”
Kitchel said her committee will also look at cuts in the budget that impact groups that were not represented by advocates at Tuesday’s hearing. The House budget, for example, zeroes out the county fair stipend program in the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.
“We have to have a balanced budget,” Kitchel said. “I think we need to make sure that our decisions are reflective of what I think are the core responsibilities of government.”
