The Vermont House averted a showdown Friday between clean water advocates and affordable housing proponents by passing a bill that extends a fee that funds Lake Champlain cleanup in perpetuity.
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed the fee to expire in 2019.
The House approved a compromise deal that takes $1 million from the $5 million currently allocated to the Clean Water Fund each year and uses it to pay a portion of $2.5 million needed each year to pay debt service on a $35 million affordable-housing bond.
The agreement riled environmentalists who say the state needs to use the full $5 million to kickstart water cleanup as soon as possible.
Although Gov. Phil Scott has promised to veto any tax or fee increase, his spokeswoman, Rebecca Kelley, said he does not consider the extension a tax increase.
“It’s a surcharge that’s existed, and it isn’t being increased or added, so [Scott] does not consider it a new tax or fee,” Kelley said.
Chair of the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster, had panned the earlier version of S.100, saying that “with no quid pro quo in terms of extending the length of time that clean water would get resources,” he could not support it.
Deen backed the newly-revised bill. The committee had long sought to remove the expiration date on the clean water fee, which is assessed on all property transfers in the state, Deen said.
By accomplishing this, even with a $1 million reduction in its clean-water funding for 20 years, Deen said “we are trading a short-term loss for a long-term gain.”
The state must reduce the amount of phosphorus in Lake Champlain under a federal mandate. The cleanup is expected to take 20 years.
Critics of the arrangement say Democrats in the legislature lost sorely-needed clean-water funding and secured little in return.
Lake Champlain International executive director James Ehlers said House Speaker Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, and Senate Pro Tem Sen. Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden “[gave] away money they fought to bring home, just to make the Republicans look good.”
“Please do the right thing and return the money to the fund you told us we could count on when you asked us to wait for more study on dedicated dollars for life’s most fundamental necessity,” Ehlers said.
Gus Seelig, the director of the Vermont Conservation Housing Board, said the $35 million bond will create hundreds of affordable housing units for Vermonters. The board also makes investments in land preservation.
“We do an extensive amount of conservation work related to doing the best we can to protect the surface waters of the state,” Seelig said.
Seelig said he’d prefer not to comment on the controversy surrounding S.100.
Scott said Thursday that he wanted to fund the housing debt service by closing a prison in Windsor and using money from the state’s energy-efficiency programs.
The governor in January said closing Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor would save the state $3.5 million.
Environmental advocates say it’s apparent that mitigating toxic algae blooms in Lake Champlain aren’t a high priority for Scott.
Jon Groveman, Vermont Natural Resources Council’s policy and water programs director, said Scott appears to be “avoiding a discussion about long-term funding” for water cleanup.
“But to be fair,” Groveman said, neither has Scott “walked back broader commitments to take action to deal with these water-quality problems.”
Scott said on Thursday that he wants to protect Vermont’s lakes and streams.
Kelley said the governor will consider a range of potential longterm funding sources over the next two years.
“This is something we continue to discuss,” Kelley said. “It’s a priority for us.”
Scott intends to fund the effort “within existing resources” — meaning without new taxes or fees — Kelley said.
Vermont is likely to need to find at least $35 million each year for the next 20 years to meet the state’s federal obligations on phosphorus reduction, according to estimates from State Treasurer Beth Pearce.
This will be impossible without new revenue, Groveman said.
