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It isn t too often that the Dems and the GOP perfectly align. Butpolitical synchronicity occurred on Friday over an issue that thetwo parties typically clash over — property taxes. Rep. Oliver Olsen, R-Jamaica, was irritated by a decision the Demsmade last year to rebase the General Fund transfer to theEducation Fund in a section of the budget bill. The provision eliminated the inflationary increases in the transferover a three year period. Instead of transferring $309 million fromthe General Fund to the Ed Fund this year, including inflationaryincreases, the transfer will be $282 million. The upshot? $27.5 million, or about 3 cents per $100 of propertyvalue, has been shifted onto the local property tax rate. Olsen, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, scored a victoryon Friday when Dems unanimously supported his novel proposal to put50 percent of any surplus (after the stabilization fund has beenfilled) toward the General Fund transfer to the Ed Fund, and moremoney into the per pupil funding formula. This mechanism wouldremain in place until the transfer and the formula have caught upwith inflation. The Joint Fiscal Office would be required to issuea report on the plan every year. Rep. Ann Manwaring, D-Wilimington, who has worked closely withOlsen on post-Irene issues, stood with him before the Democraticcaucus in support of the measure. Manwaring, who serves on House Appropriations, said the legislatureneeds to reaffirm its support of the original structure of Act 68,the state s education finance law. We are committed tocontaining property taxes in the same way we are containing salesand income taxes, Manwaring said. The change doesn t guarantee that the General Fund transfer or perpupil base will be substantially higher any time soon. As severallawmakers pointed out, it could be several years before thestate s economy recovers from the Great Recession. The amendment passed 138 to 0. New positions drive a wedge between lawmakers The property tax deal, however, didn t allay deep misgivings amongGOP legislators over the biggest change in the Budget AdjustmentAct — the inclusion of 49 new positions for four differentdepartments. The Shumlin administration asked for new social workers, temporaryhires for the Agency of Transportation, and Medicaid analysts andchronic care initiative workers. The GOP opposed the new positionson the grounds that the Shumlin administration was growing stategovernment. Rep. Mark Higley, R-Lowell, argued that the administration shouldonly hire the 21 transportation workers, who are needed to helpmanage projects related to Tropical Storm Irene. In an amendment,he proposed cutting the other positions in the Department ofVermont Health Access, the Department of Public Safety s DUIdatamaster program and the Department of Children and Families (9social workers to provide case management services by children whoare in state custody). Higley said the Shumlin administration couldadd those jobs to the Big Bill. "A lot of us aren t aware whether a lot of these positionsare needed and the process should be through the 2013budget," Higley said. Normally, the positions would have come from the position pool, according to Rep. Martha Heath, D-Westford, chair of HouseAppropriations. This repository for vacant jobs in stategovernment, however, had been eliminated by the Douglasadministration after the state workforce had been reduced by about10 percent. Once vacancies of a year or more are added to the pool,the positions can be reclassified. The Higley amendment failed. Increase in state liability fund nixed Rep. Michael Hebert, R-Vernon, floated an amendment to increase thestate liability fund — a set aside for extraneous legal costsassociated with the Vermont Attorney General's recent defeatin the U.S. Supreme Court case on data mining. The budgetadjustment act includes $3 million to cover legal fees associatedwith the case. Hebert asked the House to consider adding $7 million to cover thecost of an appeal of U.S. District Court Judge GarvanMurtha's ruling last week against the state. The decisionallows Entergy Corp. to continue operating the Vermont YankeeNuclear Plant in Vernon beyond the plant's March 21 licenseexpiration date. Attorney General William Sorrell has 30 days todecide whether to appeal. The Budget Adjustment Act passed 101-37. The vote was split alongparty lines. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Elevated Work Platforms , Window Cleaning Platform, and more. For more , please visit Cargo Lift today!
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