Efficiency Vermont has received the state’s approval to redirect $10 million in public funds to help individuals impacted by this month’s catastrophic flooding replace damaged appliances and equipment.
The nonprofit, which the state typically leans on to administer energy efficiency projects, had been awarded $35 million to spend on weatherization projects during the fiscal year that began July 1. But its leaders, alongside other environmental advocates, approached lawmakers late last week about repurposing $10 million for grants to defray the cost of energy-efficient appliances and heating systems for homeowners and renters impacted by the flood, according to Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro.
Vermont’s Emergency Board, a special panel composed of the Legislature’s four ‘money’ committee chairs and the governor, which meets biannually, formally signed off on the proposal Monday.
Efficiency Vermont Managing Director Peter Walke told lawmakers that the program aims to provide financial relief to flood survivors and offer opportunities for low- and moderate-income Vermonters to switch to energy-efficient systems that the federal government might not have been willing to pay full freight for through its flood assistance programs.
With just a few months to go before the temperatures begin to dip, he thanked them for moving quickly.
Impacted Vermonters are “all thinking about how do I heat my homes? How do I provide hot water for my family over the course of the next few months? This is the moment,” he said. “And so I appreciate the response from the Legislature and the administration to step forward and say this is the right thing to do.”
Kornheiser, who chairs the House’s tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, said lawmakers were eager to greenlight the idea. The Legislature was enthusiastic about Gov. Phil Scott’s decision to create a $20 million grant program for impacted business, she said, but there was also a “certain amount of discomfort” that there was no immediate help outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for “regular Vermonters” with damaged homes. (Scott administration officials have said they acted quickly to get a business grant program in motion because businesses are only eligible for loans, not grants, from the federal government.)
“I was really excited at the opportunity to make sure that Vermonters know that there’s going to be immediate support for them to replace flood-damaged heating systems in preparation for winter, and flood-damaged appliances,” Kornheiser said, “and that we can do it in a way that we’re building back better — not to quote the Biden administration too much.”
Priority for the Efficiency Vermont grants will be given to Vermonters with incomes at or below 120% of the area median income, according to a one-page memo submitted to lawmakers on Monday.
Homeowners, renters and landlords will be able to apply. For rental properties, Efficiency Vermont will look at a tenant’s income, not the landlord’s, to determine eligibility.
Grants will max out at $10,000 per individual. Grants will not be available for items already reimbursed through insurance payouts or FEMA awards. Applicants will be required to verify income and provide proof of damage.
Efficiency Vermont is still finalizing the program’s details and is not yet accepting applications. But Walke said the nonprofit will start advertising the program as soon as it’s ready, and will attempt to reach out to impacted individuals directly as well.
Vermonters living in counties not included in the federal government’s major disaster declaration will still be eligible to apply for the Efficiency Vermont grants, so long as equipment they are seeking to replace was damaged in this month’s flooding.
Currently, the federal disaster declaration covers nine Vermont counties — Caledonia, Chittenden, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Washington, Windham, Windsor — allowing individuals there to apply for aid through FEMA. State officials continue to urge Vermonters to report flooding damage to 211 in hopes that additional communities will be included, particularly in Addison County.
“Report, report,” Vermont Secretary of Administration Kristin Clouser told VTDigger on Monday. “Even if you feel like you don’t need federal funds, or you have the resources to dry out your basement or something — it helps your neighbors by reporting your damage.”
Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, celebrated the grant program in a statement Monday.
“Thousands of Vermonters have been impacted by the recent floods,” he wrote. “It’s imperative that we help Vermonters rebuild with cleaner, more efficient options and support the transition to a more resilient future.”
Although the full Legislature is typically in session only from January through May, lawmakers have begun holding special off-session hearings to collect information on the flood’s repercussions. But for now, state officials and lawmakers alike have stressed that they’ll need more time and information before they can begin to truly understand the losses incurred by municipalities, residents and businesses.
Tom Kavet, the Legislature’s economist, who was before the Emergency Board on Monday to deliver his biannual revenue forecast, noted that his latest projections did not take the flood into account.
“We need more data before we can do credible modeling,” he said. Both he and Jeff Carr, the economist for the Scott administration, emphasized that the aggregate impact on the state would be profoundly influenced by how much — or how little — federal aid the state and impacted Vermonters are able to collect.
But flood recovery is widely expected to dominate the upcoming legislative session. At the close of the Emergency Board’s meeting, Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, who chairs the Senate’s tax-writing Finance Committee, remarked that the grant program the panel was about to approve would not be “the last of the needs we are going to be asked to fill.”
