State cutbacks are widespread
The effect of the State cuts on services for people with disabilities
MONTPELIER — The Douglas administration unveiled its plan for $19.7 million in state spending cuts Monday. The governor’s plan calls for the elimination of 50 state jobs, closure of four highway rest areas, pay cuts for managers, increases in state park fees, cuts to financial assistance to college students in the spring semester, and reductions in community-based services to the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
The Agency of Transportation released a separate package of $5.1 million in cuts that included replacement of state-subsidized passenger rail service between Rutland and Albany, N.Y., with a bus.
“There will be impacts to nearly all areas of state government,” Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville said. Only a few organizations were spared in this second round of belt-tightening since summer, including state troopers, sheriffs, state’s attorneys and the Defender General’s office.
Public interest in the details of the administration’s budget reduction plan was so keen at 10 a.m. Monday, the hour it was to be posted on the Internet, that the Web site received 15,000 hits in two minutes and crashed, state officials said. The administration will present the plan to the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee today in hopes of winning a vote of approval by the end of the week.
The administration wanted to have more cuts approved this month because tax revenues are falling off and a $37 million shortfall is predicted by summer. Legislative leaders objected to action on some of the cuts the governor and his staff proposed, saying they represented policy changes that should wait until the full Legislature convenes in January.
“In the coming days, we hope to find more areas of agreement,” said Lunderville, chief negotiator for the administration. “I have to be realistic,” he added. “Movement from $19 million is going to be difficult.”
Jes Kraus, director of the Vermont State Employees Association, praised legislative leaders for delaying some decisions until the new Legislature meets.
Kraus criticized the Douglas administration for failing to make public all its ideas to save money. “The administration isn’t showing us the entire $37 million,” he said. “I think Vermonters deserve to know what is in store for their public services.”
Kraus also argued that the state‘s contingency funds should be tapped to cover some of the shortfall, instead of making drastic cuts to services. “I’m just baffled by the administration’s and Legislature’s refusal to use the Rainy Day funds.”
Lunderville countered that there could be additional revenue problems this winter and spring, so now wasn’t the time to tap emergency funding. Lunderville also rejected raising taxes or waiting to see if the federal government would ride to the rescue.
One of the biggest bites in the package will be felt by the community agencies providing services to the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. Under the plan, their budget appropriation for the year would shrink 4 percent. With half the budget year over, the actual cut will be 8 percent.
Finance Commissioner Jim Reardon pegged the amount of the cut at $3.5 million for all the agencies, but since the agencies use the state dollars in matches with federal funding, the actual loss is $8.5 million.
“That is a significant reduction,” Reardon said, but noted that the agencies had asked to have their cut put on the table now, rather than later.
Julie Tessler, executive director of the Vermont Council of Developmental and Mental Health Services, predicted the elimination of as many as 200 jobs in the agencies. The resulting impact on services to clients “is a huge concern.”