The Vermont Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a revision of the fiscal year 2017 budget. A third reading and passage of the bill are expected Friday.
The bill, H.125, is called the Budget Adjustment Act. This is an annual exercise the Legislature does to balance the budget in the middle of the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30.
The House passed its version of the budget adjustment Jan. 30. The Senate made minor changes that the House will likely approve, according to Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
For fiscal year 2017, the Senate has approved shaving about $14 million off the roughly $5.7 billion total budget. If the budget adjustment passes, the growth rate over fiscal year 2016 is projected to fall to 2.1 percent, from 2.4 percent.
Kitchel said the Senate balanced the midyear budget without tapping into reserve funds, which the state holds in savings for rainy days.
Here are some highlights of the budget adjustment:
• A reduction of $18.4 million in state and federal spending on Medicaid, largely because of a decreased number of people enrolled in Medicaid programs.
• An additional $3.5 million to be paid from the Department of Vermont Health Access to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont for issues related to Vermont Health Connect.
• An additional $770,000 in spending for the Vermont State Colleges System to set up Northern Vermont University after merging Lyndon State College and Johnson State College.
• An additional $52,000 in spending for the Department of Labor to fund staff to enforce the new paid sick leave law, which cannot be enforced using federal money.
