RutlandHerald.com - We Are Vermont

Vermont's pace measured



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Published: December 5, 2008

State budget woes continue apace across the country, with Arnold Schwarzenegger's California leading the way. Facing an expected $40 billion deficit over the next two years, the Governator has declared a fiscal emergency, which allows him to keep the state's legislators in Sacramento until they reach agreement on a budget deal that will balance the books.

Out here on the East Coast, we do things a little differently.

Mind you, Vermont has the highest bond rating possible among the states while California has the lowest, a distinction that might have bought us a little more time to react than they, but the lack of legislative urgency remains a head-scratcher. When you can see the floodwaters rising in the distance, it makes sense to start filling sandbags before the basement floods.

And this particular deluge has provided more advance warning than Noah got.

State leaders, including Gov. James Douglas, have been cautioning Vermonters about anticipated revenue shortfalls for well over a year. Granted, the sudden collapse of the financial sector took everyone by surprise, but that merely exacerbated the problem, it didn't create it. So it's a little disconcerting to see the Legislature operating in business-as-usual mode:

  • According to a number of legislators, most recently Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, the Joint Fiscal Committee can't make cuts the scale of the $60-plus-million needed without input from the full membership. That would seem to put the ball in the court of the general assembly.

  • But not only is the Legislature not ready to act, the House is still politicking internally to choose a new speaker. So how about the administration?

  • Douglas, who earlier this year threatened to call a special session to force a snap vote on sex offender sentencing, has made no such Schwarzenegger-like move to force the fiscal issue.

  • And while Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville is pushing state department heads to do some serious fiscal triage, that's work that could have and probably should have been done months ago, when the state budget office pointed to its November review and said, in essence, "If you think this is bad, wait until then."

    We've waited, "then" has come and gone, and we're still waiting. One almost gets the sense the state is hoping the federal government arrives, cash in hand, in time to preempt the hardest part of the cuts.

    The Legislature's reaction to the cuts proposed early next week will be telling in regards to how seriously the members are taking the deficit.

    No, Vermont is not California, and a headlong rush will get us nowhere, but "that's how we always do things" isn't a good enough reason for putting off action on the faltering state economy.








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