Governor Douglas's Budget Highlights

[Henry]

DOUGLAS BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

In his final budget address to lawmakers, Gov. Jim Douglas on Tuesday proposed cuts to a range of state programs to address a $153 million gap between projected revenues and expenditures. Among the highlights:

HUMAN SERVICES: $53 million of the cuts could come in human services, the state’s largest agency. They include a 3 percent decrease in rates paid to some providers; increases in deductibles for those on the Catamount Health Plan; increases in premiums for those on Dr. Dynasaur and Vermont Health Access health care programs; caps on emergency room visits; and occupational, physical and speech therapy for those on Medicaid.

PROPERTY TAXES: Vermonters with household incomes up to $90,000 per year have the option to pay no more than 1.8 percent of their incomes on statewide school property taxes. That cap would remain for households earning up to $60,000. Those between $60,000 and $75,000 would pay no more than 2.25 percent of their income. Those between $75,000 and $90,000 would pay up to 3.5 percent before the state chipped in.

EDUCATION: Douglas would change Vermont’s lowest-in-the-nation student-teacher ratio from 10.8-1 to 13-1, still below the national average of 15.5-1. He wants to require teachers to pay at least 20 percent of their health insurance costs. These and other changes would allow the state to decrease its property tax rate by 1 cent rather than increase it by 2 cents.

PENSIONS: Douglas is counting on a $25 million savings through changes to state worker pensions recommended by a commission. He would also shift $10 million in teacher pension costs from the General Fund to the Education Fund, with plans to phase the program into the Education Fund entirely within four years.

RESTRUCTURING: Douglas is counting on $38 million in savings he and legislative leaders have agreed will come from restructuring various government services.

TAXES: Douglas would restore a 40 percent tax exemption on capital gains that was eliminated last year and a $3.5 million exemption on estate taxes that was changed last year.

HIGHER EDUCATION: Funding for the University of Vermont, Vermont State Colleges and Vermont Student Assistance Corp. would increase by $5.5 million, along with a $2 million boost in construction funds each for UVM and state colleges.

TRANSPORTATION: Douglas proposes a $14 million increase in spending over this year.

TECHNOLOGY: Douglas proposed $8 million in technology improvements throughout state government.

[Chris Santee]

I'm checking those Property Taxes,
When I get more info, I'll post again.

[Henry]

Heard someplace and haven't been able to find it again that Medicaid pays unlimited emergency room visits now and that would be changed to a limit of 12 if not admitted to the hospital.  Going to an emergency room instead of a doctor's office can be extremely expensive and I think a lot of people don't realize that, Medicaid or not.

[slpott]

It seems like teachers would be hit pretty hard and University would get more money. This seems odd to me after Mr. Gilbert was just saying most don't go to college. If that is the case it would seem to me that spending more on regular student education would be a must. Teachers might only have 10-1 in Vermont BUT many of those 10 are struggling students. It is very unfortunate but I personally feel that teachers are not in it for the money and it is a shame to take away anymore than they already give. They are the most influential people in childrens lives considering most parents work one and two jobs. Finding a parent that can do both effectively is hard. I question whether I do one effectively. The kids are the ones that suffer in both instances. Education is paramont to me. I am not highly educated but that was my choice. Our future depends on these kids education and I would like to see educated change rather than the change we are seeing because of the mess we are in. I say cut what you will but leave the teachers alone. I am a stay at home mom and can honestly say, aside from school work my kids get a lot from their teachers. I consider their teachers part of our family. Infact, BFA as a whole is wonderful in my eyes. My son was having trouble facing one of his fears. No matter what I said or did he still had the fear. I spoke with one of the teachers about it, she spoke to him about it and wala. He is on to face a different fear. That could have happened anywhere but I am thankful it happened there. Not sure what the answer is nor do I know the details but I do know that teachers are not highly paid as it is.

[special ED]

WELL if mass.is any indicator for Democrats future ,I would say cut somemore Jim ,if you need some ideas give me a call PLEASE!!!

[cedarman]

I think to get the most out of our education system, we need to let go of some traditionally held views about what a school day is, and what a school year is.  We are no longer and agriculturally based society.  There is no longer a need for (most) students to be available to work the fields in the summer.   MOST parents work year round and might find it beneficial if school was year round.
Other societies are seeing impressive gains in education by having kids go to school a larger percentage of the year.  One educational system that made large inprovements in the student body education level has student attending school 230 days a year (6 days a week), but interestingly enough, the students do not spend significantly more time in the classroom than typical US students.  They go to school 6 days a week, but fewer hours a day.  That means that kids (with naturally shorter attention spans) are not wasting hours a day sitting in a class and learning nothing because they tuned our hours ago.

That seems to make sense to me. 

[special ED]

cedar,do you know how the kids from other countries get to school?

[Chris Santee]

Currently
Vermonters with household incomes up to $90,000 per year have the option to pay no more than 1.8 percent of their incomes on statewide school property taxes.

In the proposed budget
That cap would remain for households earning up to $60,000. Those between $60,000 and $75,000 would pay no more than 2.25 percent of their income. Those between $75,000 and $90,000 would pay up to 3.5 percent before the state chipped in.

[trussell]

So if someone makes $65,000, would that be 1.8% of the $60,000, plus 2.25% of $5,000?  Or would it be a straight 2.25% of all $65,000?  I don't mean to cause problems, I'm just curious.

[slpott]

So,why does the one that makes more pay more? I personally think they would pay more anyway if all their income was taxed at the same rate rather than being penalized by a higher rate too. Once again I do not know the answers but.........I have been wondering..........We do not pay unemployment tax because we do not have employees other than ourselves and we have a retirement to fall back on if we lost our job. Makes sense to me. You don't pay so you do not get it. BUT, our busiiness has to pay quite a bit in federal employment tax and it will never be for any of our employees or ourselves. If this makes sense to anyone, please try to make me understand this. I know it sounds very selfish on my part but if any of you know me you know that I am far from selfish. I just do not have a comfortable opinion on this matter and do like to stay positive. Thank you

[Chris Santee]

Good question, truss:

2.25% of all $65,000

[Chris Santee]

slpott,
Steve Forbes ran for president a few elections ago on a "Flat Tax" platform,
where everyone would pay 17% of their income in taxes.

He did not receive much support on the plan.

In theory, the person who earns more pays more because he/she has more.
I believe the top 2% of earners pay about 40% of our tax revenue.
I'd bet DrewCash knows the exact number.
He's a smart man.

[slpott]

I guess I don't agree with the theory then but that is ok. Thanks Chris

[cedarman]

If the tax is applied straight across the board without adjustments like income taxes are adjusted, then it would be a good incentive to take steps to make your taxable income less than $60,000 if possible, especially if you are close to the $60K mark.

For example: The difference between 59995 @ 1.8% (1079.91) and $60005 @ 2.25% (1350.11) would be $270.20 because you made an extra $10.

[trussell]

That, cedarman, is exactly what I was thinking.  Guess I'll watch the overtime this year.