The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday wrapped up its draft of Vermont’s more than $8 billion budget. The vote was 7-0.
House lawmakers passed their own budget bill, H.740, in March. With the upper chamber’s budget-writing committee’s work now done, the full Senate could vote on its version of the budget as soon as Tuesday.
In certain respects, the Senate’s spending draft is more generous than that of the House: Per the construct in the Senate Appropriations bill, for example, the Vermont State Colleges would get a $10 million increase to their base budget — plus another $14.9 million in one-time help as the schools embark on a set of reforms. The House-passed budget also had a $10 million base increase, but only $2.5 million in one-time bridge funding.
Vermont’s community-based mental health agencies, whose employees often make near minimum wage, had this year requested a 10% rate reimbursement increase from the state to address a crippling workforce shortage. The governor proposed 3%. The House offered 7%. The Senate has upped that to 8%.
But the upper chamber is tightening the purse strings in other ways. The Senate cut $10 million from the $50 million in one-time money the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board was set to receive for mixed-income rental housing in the House-passed budget. (The Senate did, however, keep a $10 million bump to the housing board’s base funding, as proposed by the House, which was not in the governor’s original housing proposal.)
The appropriations committee also gave Senate Finance, the chamber’s tax-writing panel, a smaller box to work in when it comes to tax cuts. The House passed out a nearly $50 million child tax credit, which Senate Finance is set to whittle down to $22 million in a vote scheduled for Tuesday.
The Senate’s budget bill leaves $40 million on the bottom line to pay for — but does not directly fund — two separate housing bills, S.210, and S.226. The move is meant to tie funding for housing initiatives that Gov. Phil Scott has named as top priorities with consumer protection measures lawmakers want — and which Scott very much does not.
S.210 includes a rental registry and statewide inspection system for rentals, as well as $20 million to help landlords rehabilitate code-violating and vacant properties. S.226 includes a variety of housing reforms, including a contractor registry, and $15 million for a housing program meant to subsidize building homes for middle-income families, plus $5 million for manufactured housing.
Scott has repeatedly referred to the registries as “poison pills,” and in remarks offered during his weekly press conference Tuesday, reiterated his displeasure with lawmakers.
“I think I’ve shown that I’m perfectly willing to veto legislation, including budgets and things that might sound good on paper, but when you dig deeper, cause more harm than good. And I certainly won’t hesitate to do it again,” he said.