[T]he Vermont House advanced a bill on Friday to raise funds for water quality improvements by imposing a quarter percent increase on the state’s rooms and meals tax, and diverting the proceeds from unclaimed bottle deposits.
The slight increase in the rooms and meals tax — for a total tax of 9.25 percent — plus the bottle receipts, would raise $6.4 million for the state’s clean water fund, but only if lawmakers fail to find other sources of funding by the year 2020.
A late amendment to the bill, S. 260, would add a tax on raw materials used by farmers and developers that contribute to water pollution, such as asphalt, cattle feed and fertilizer, and would eliminate tax breaks and other subsidies for polluters in 2018.
The state has been under a federal Environmental Protection Agency order since 2016 to reduce the total load of the nutrient phosphorus in the state’s public waters, and it has been under a federal order to identify a funding source for cleanup efforts, estimated to cost $1.2 billion over the next 20 years.
The state failed to meet its 2017 deadline and has been given another year by the EPA to identify funding to bring Vermont public waters into compliance with state and federal law.
The bill was passed on Friday by a vote of 92 to 48, after more than two hours of debate.
The measure comes up for final approval next week, and then will have to be reconciled with a Senate version.
The bill faces a likely veto as a result of Gov. Phil Scott’s continuing refusal to countenance any increase in taxes and fees — even though the taxes in S.260 would not take effect for another two years. His spokeswoman, Rebecca Kelley, did not respond to a request for comment.
Lawmakers expressed frustration at the continuing stalemate. “This game of ‘Not it’ between this [legislative] body and the [governor’s] administration has got to stop,” said Rep. Gabrielle Lucke, D-White River Junction.
Some representatives balked at the prospect of constituents or their customers paying to fix a problem they didn’t cause.
“My constituents do very little to pollute Lake Champlain,” said Rep. Paul Poirier, I-Barre. “Why should they pay for someone else’s problem?”
Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-West Dover, agreed, saying “It is hard for me to vote for these funds when it is doubtful we’ll see the benefit in my district.”
Rep. David Deen, the Westminster Democrat who is chair of the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee, said water quality matters not only to those who live here, but those who visit.
“Tourists don’t magically appear in Vermont,” said Deen. “They use our roads, our railroads, our airstrips, our drives, our parking lots, our buildings … all of which are challenges to boat-able, swimmable, drinkable water, and I have to ask: how attractive is green, stinking water, dead fish on the shoreline, and toxin-laden beaches?”
Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, was author of the amendment to tax farmers and developers for fertilizer, cattle feed, asphalt, sand and other materials that add to the runoff that is a major source of pollution. The amendment also would eliminate tax breaks and subsidies that have been enjoyed by potential polluters.
“The revenue raised here will be returned to the ag community to help them fix their problems,” Browning said. “This is the most efficient and the most equitable way. Why would we want to be subsidizing polluting activities?”
The leader of the House Republican caucus characterized the vote in favor of S.260 as victimizing Gov. Scott.
“This is another case of overreach by this body in an attempt to embarrass the governor,” Rep. Don Turner, R-Milton, said following the vote.
The bill also establishes a process for the state to respond to water pollution that has reached a “crisis” and declares Lake Carmi in Franklin County to be in a crisis now. The bill establishes a working group to identify funding sources that would render the proposed tax increases unnecessary.
It would also require the secretary of Natural Resources to write and update annually a multi-year funding plan.
