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However, a task force says a local tax increase could eliminate the need to reduce the number of city workers.

Business The unemployment bill formerly known as S.10 – Business owners had their most challenging year in memory. Many hoped that the legislature, knowing this, would have sought to offset their challenges. Unfortunately leveling unemployment tax rates was considered by some to be too much help. One of the most contentious negotiations of the session centered on the formula that determines the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance. Recent years' unemployment rates are entered into the calculation, and many experts felt that 2020 was an anomaly and should be removed from the formula giv...

[co-author: Jessica Griswold] Senate passes budget On Friday, the Senate gave final approval to the $7.17 billion FY 2022 budget, H.439. Senate Appropriations Chair Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, called it “as complicated a budget as I’ve ever had to put together in my time in the Senate” due to the flood of federal aid to Vermont for coronavirus relief and an unexpected $211 million revenue surplus. The bill spends $478.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, while incorporating only a portion of Gov. Scott’s ARPA spending proposal. Kitchel said the governor’s plan did not...

We are in the home stretch of the 2021 Legislative Session. COVID-19 cases are on the decline, Vermonters are lining up for vaccinations, and spring has arrived in Vermont. It’s hard to believe it was only a year ago that we were resigning ourselves to the reality that our somewhat predictable way of life had become uncertain and unpredictable. Schools went on line, businesses shut down, travel halted, and family members sheltered in place. The spigot, as Governor Scott would refer to during his weekly press conference, was closed. The decisions that were being made focused on saving liv...

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.   Vermonters deeply value our teachers, troopers and state employees. Many of the most active and engaged citizens in small town Vermont are retired state workers and teachers. While these public servants do not make as much as they might in a private sector career, the opportunity to earn a pension and have the guarantee of income in retirement is key to the recruitment and retention of these important workers, and a huge benefit to our local economies. Unfortunately, it has been clear for decades that those benefits paid out to future reti...