If we had acted five years ago when the Vermont Business Roundtable and Campaign for Vermont again brought these issues forward we still probably could have avoided it. But now the deficit is twice as large as it was in 2015 and adjusting benefits for new hires isn’t enough, we need to make structural changes.
The Legislature is now expecting to have $200 million on hand from stimulus funds to put towards broadband buildout. This is nearly a 670% increase over what the state had planned to spend in fiscal year 2022. Also on the upside, stronger voices have started testifying on the state of our pension funds.
For every dollar spent on actual fiber buildout, taxpayers would need to spend $1.20. This is a problem. Don’t get us wrong, broadband is critically important to the future of our state. But this approach doesn’t make sense.
I here propose a bold plan, which I will call the “Vermont Pension Funding Action Plan.” The plan would create a state task force to combat fraud and waste, replete with a confidential phone line for reporting.
The stock market rocket that took off with the election of Donald Trump in November 2016 has brought some much-needed relief to one of the state of Vermont’s most painful, persistent problems: its troubled public pension funds.
We need to have conversations about substantive reform if we’re serious about paying down our liabilities while making financially responsible decisions for our state’s future.
The pension crisis is an issue has been simmering below the public radar for years. Although huge in its potential consequences, it has not received a lot of critical attention for a number of reasons.
The pension fund crisis estimated at about $4.5 billion in unfunded liabilities has worked its way into the budget talks currently playing out at the state capital.
Pensions benefits and costs will rise, even though assets are down $251 million. Given the election results, Vermont’s state bureaucracy is now in the full veto-proof grip of “smoothing-talker” progressives, who can take full credit and responsibility for “fixing” the state pensions.