[T]he Shumlin administration says about $900,000 in House approved cuts to the fiscal year 2016 state budget could pose problems.
Jim Reardon, the commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management, wants to “buy back” the $900,000 by eliminating money for public safety answering points (PSAPs) that would have funded the Vermont State Police dispatch services in Derby and Rutland through September. The commissioner would also use a small amount of global commitment money.
Reardon issued an 11-page letter to the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, with the proposal on Thursday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is now at work on the $1.48 billion general fund spending package. Lawmakers hope to have the budget out of committee and on its way to the Senate floor by April 27.
One week after Gov. Peter Shumlin presented his budget in January, which proposed ways to close a $94 million gap between projected spending and receipts, a revenue forecast found an additional gap of $18.6 million. House lawmakers closed the total gap of $113 million with a combination of new revenue, one-time funds and $53 million in cuts.
The administration identified a total of $900,000 in budget savings that would be difficult to realize.
Reardon asked for restoration of the following cuts:
• $500,000 cut to the Agency of Human Services, which the House said was to be found by using alternate treatment plans for geriatric patients with psychiatric problems. The administration requests that AHS return to the Legislature next year with a plan for the cut to be implemented in FY 2017;
• $100,000 in unspecified savings in the military budget. The funds have a $300,000 federal match;
• $250,000 in the Department of Corrections to help the department make the transition in closing the correctional facility in Windsor;
• $50,000 in Next Generation education grants.
The administration’s response to the budget includes a proposal for how the Senate could fill the $900,000 gap.
“We wanted to be responsible and make sure we weren’t exacerbating the fiscal issues,” Reardon said Friday.
The administration plan returns to Shumlin’s original proposal to close PSAPs in Derby and Rutland Town at the beginning of July. The House Appropriations Committee had delayed the closure of the centers until Sept. 15 by using $425,000 from the state’s universal service fund.
The remainder would be funded with leftover global commitment funds.
Kitchel said her committee will consider the administration’s input as they go over the budget next week.
Reardon’s letter also encourages the Senate to reconsider the Medicaid cost shift plan that the governor had originally proposed, which would have been funded by a 0.7 percent payroll tax. That proposal stalled in the House.
Reardon said he didn’t think it was too late in the session for the proposal to pass. “A lot of things happen at the very end of the legislative session,” he said.
Kitchel, however, said the prospects for the cost shift and payroll tax proposal are not good.
“The cost shift requires revenue to be raised, and I don’t think that is necessarily something that is going to be addressed as part of this budget process,” Kitchel said.
