In total, this budget invests a record $7.7 billion without raising taxes and, in fact, returns money to taxpayers. But I want to take some time to talk through what this means because it is probably the most complex budget we have ever built.
Speaking to members of the state Senate and House of Representatives, Scott said that due to the infusion of federal funding over the past year, Vermont is in a unique position.
In a news release last week, the governor announced that $3.5 million in Community Development Block Grants will be dispersed for affordable home repair, financing, mixed-income housing, and community facility improvements.
“Even with omicron we have the tools we need,” Scott said. “We have vaccines, boosters, testing, and common-sense precautions we have talked about repeatedly — like wearing masks indoors and crowded public spaces and staying home when sick.”
Gov. Phil Scott has appointed Sabina Haskell to serve as chair of the Natural Resources Board, while Wendy Knight will serve as commissioner of the Department of Liquor and Lottery and Andrew Collier will serve as the department’s deputy commissioner. The appointments are effective Dec. 13.
At the governor’s weekly press conference Tuesday, members of Gov. Phil Scott’s administration said hospital ICUs are getting filled with non-COVID-related patients, but they don’t know the reason for the uptick in illnesses.
Thanks to the hard work of Vermont’s congressional delegation, the program received $49 million in LIHEAP funding, augmented by a one-time block grant increase authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Of the 1,100 state employees who have not attested Covid-19 vaccination, none are currently on unpaid leave for failing to comply with masking and testing requirements, a spokesman for Gov. Phil Scott said.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott told reporters at his weekly press conference Tuesday that the latest coronavirus data trends do not warrant another state of emergency declaration in Vermont.
Again, for broad mandates I’d need to declare a state of emergency and the data still doesn’t support that step. What’s more, I do not think it is the right approach and my team has not recommended it.
At a press conference last week, Republican Gov. Phil Scott shifted his focus away from coronavirus case counts and on to hospitalizations and deaths when discussing vaccinated Vermonters. The downplaying of cases is a reversal of his focus since the beginning of the pandemic.
“The school boards and superintendents who are implementing masking policies are simply doing what the state — at my direction — is recommending. The attacks towards them are absolutely unacceptable, and if they want to blame someone, they can blame me.”