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2008, Waterbury Record: New Legislative Session Kicks Off in High Gear

The legislature kicked off the new session this week, and we are already immersed in a host of important issues. It is very exciting to be back and the House, and we have hit the ground running. My first week has focused on scrutinizing the governor’s proposed adjustments to the FY ’08 transportation budget, and hearing the governor’s State of the State address.

I appreciate the effort by both the governor and legislative leaders to work together this session, and was pleased to hear the governor agreeing with the legislature that the key issues we need to deal with include: health care reform, affordable housing, energy, and property tax pressures. To this list of the governor’s priorities, I would add: fixing our roads and bridges!

My number one priority for the session remains finding adequate funds to fix our bridges, maintain our roads, and to support public transit and rail. I remain very concerned about our current and future transportation budget. For the fourth year in a row I am being presented with a lean budget that delays and cuts many projects because our revenues into the transportation fund can not keep up with our costs for road and bridge repair. The future for transportation funding looks bleak, and I am disappointed that the governor has yet to propose a real plan for catching up.

A study performed by the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office this summer reveals a $200 million gap between what is needed and what is currently being invested into transportation. Vermont has among the worst bridges in the nation – ranking 44th on a list of states with the highest number of structurally deficient bridges. My goal this year is to pursue bonding for state bridges. Given the dramatically escalating costs of construction inflation (20% last year) it is fiscally imprudent not to borrow at half that price, and get the work done sooner, rather than later when costs will double.

One of the cornerstones of the governor’s budget proposal, being presented to the legislature on January 22, is to sell the state lottery. Personally, I am not excited by this proposal which involves leasing a state asset to Wall Street investors in order to raise a one-time slug of cash. Wall Street would recoup its investment by pressing for an increase in gambling in Vermont. The proposal seems tempting because we are so far behind on many pressing needs. My goal for raising revenues would be to pursue a plan that does not rely purely on Vermonters, does not rely on increasing gambling, and does not only get us one year of funding. We need a strategy for more sustainable funds in order to invest in critical infrastructure projects (including bridge repair, school construction, State Hospital replacement, water and sewer facilities, and corrections).

While budget woes, particularly for transportation, continue to top my agenda at the outset of the session, there are many more issues underway, which I will continue to share with you in this column.

As always please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Rep. Sue Minter
900 Maggie’s Way
Waterbury Center, VT 05677
sue@sueminter.com
244-7955

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