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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


4.21.2008

 

One item at a time


As the Legislature looks to cut $25 million from next year's budget ($28 million if they adopt the package the governor outlined Saturday), the least you could do while sitting there on your buttocks in front of the computer is help.

The list of possible cuts includes Vermont promotional items, which means state agency staffers won't be getting new fleece vests with the state logo next year. We all interact with state government in our daily lives, making us all eligible to be experts in our own minds about what items the state live without. What do you recommend be cut from the state budget?

To start things off here's mine:

As a rough estimate it seems to me that in the last 10 years we have gone from having four traffic lights in the state to having 2.4 million traffic lights, one every 12 feet except on Williston Road where there is one every 4 inches. I can't help thinking that we're all set on the traffic light front for now.

Hinesburg just got its second traffic light, and it is a fine addition. People coming off the Charlotte Road can actually get onto Route 116 without waiting until the dead of night. But now there is talk of a third traffic light, and that's pushing it.

This one would go on Route 116, at the Estey's hardware plaza. The new bank going in just past the plaza would have to pay for installation, but the state would be doing the studies and presumably paying the upkeep. I'm offering it up on the chopping block of expenses.

How about you? (Keep in mind that your ideas - and mine - are at best ill-informed and probably bad.)

- Terri Hallenbeck

Comments:
Why does the state have to spend millions on politically-correct but totally useless agencies such as Governor's Commission on status of Women or Human Rights Commission? Aren't these just political payoffs for the libs? Can anyone out there tell me what either has contributed towards the welfare of Vermont in the last 20 years?
 
-Cut all deputy commissioners

-Cut all the administration's communicator positions

-No Pizza Putt birthday party for Mike Smith this year
 
Isn't Mike Smith the dancing guy in glasses in the Great Escape ad? Spitting image. Or maybe that's Hayward?
 
Did anyone catch Smith's cameo on "Little People, Big World"? Poor Mike. That Shriner's car actually looked like it was made for him.
 
We should cut the salary of the guy that baits the Governor's fishing line.

Jimmy will need to learn to bait his own hook from now on.
 
It was good that the Governor failed to budget any money for November's election.

We don't need elections anymore. We have Zogby.

(privatize, privatize, privatize ...)
 
We should build the Circ highway, like Douglas wants to do.

That'll help our budget shortfall!
 
I would have liked to have seen Douglas hook LaRoche's bad toupe and fling it into the river. That would have been classic.
 
A modest tax on ribbon cutting would generate millions under the Douglas Administration.
 
Sounds like the entitlement crowd is starting to panic!
 
Nobody feels more entitled than Douglas.
 
We should:

Lease out the statehouse as office space.

Sell off all of the state parks ... the peak of Mount Mansfield alone is worth millions.

Lease out the lotto.

Bring in some casinos.

Privatize the highways.

Save tons of cash.
 
Privatize the office of the Governor.

A for-profit enterprise could do everything that Douglas does, but would cost a lot less.
 
Make the LT Gov salary the same as a Senator.

He doesn't work any more than they do.
 
Put meters in the lot where the legislators park.
 
--- Easy Cuts ---
Vermont Commission on Women - $280K
Morgan Horse Farm - $5K
Connecticut River Watershed Advisory Commission (i.e. David Deen meal-ticket) - $60K
Vermont Council on the Arts - $569K
Vermont Humanities Council - $190K
Every day the legislature is in session - $55K
Legislative boondoggles - $?

--- Revenue Possibilities ---

Billboard Tax on the Pollinamobile
Property tax on Zucherman's island in the Caribbean
Poll tax on progressive party members (don't they like taxes?)
Fat tax on Ben & Jerry's (don't they like taxes too?)
 
A great start!
 
A profanity tax....(incentive for JW to expand his vocabulary beyond what he learned hanging with the 7th Fleet).
 
Fire the state police and contract law enforcement out to Blackwater.

It'll cost twice as much, but they've done such a great job in Iraq ...
 
Close all the prisons while your at it. Vermont doesn't need all those jobs anyway. Our governor says we have tons of jobs available but no one to fill them, so here you go. Lots of unemployed prison workers to step into those jobs. An added bonus is we could send hundreds of thousands of Vermont tax dollars to states like Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma, where their residents need the money much more. And should we continue to worry about making Vermont prisoners into better people so that once they come out they will be great additions to our communities? Nah, who needs that balony. At these out of state jails, our people learn valuable skills like gang-banging, racial hate, drug dealing for profit, robbery for higher profit and more! What a great deal for Vermonters.
 
Sounds like you've been there! Do they also have color tv's, personal computers, exercise classes, coffee breaks and afternoon naps?
 
At Corrections Corporation of America jails, our inmates receive delicious cigarettes that they can smoke themselves or trade with other inmates to learn amazing skill sets, like car jacking for dummies, homicide made easy, rape without guilt, advanced racial profiling and trace-free home invasion. As an added bonus, each CCA inmate receives a Playstation or an XBox that they can use to supplement their skill sets by playing popular games like Grand Theft Auto or Manhunter.

CCA Prisons: Where we believe that rehabilitation is overrated.

I'm Vermont Gov Jim Douglas, and I approved this ad.
 
You didn't mention free health care including dental.
 
Union employees should be willing to make the same sacrafice the rest of state employees are making--agree to freeze their generous salaries for one year.

But that'll never happen because the union doesn't really care about Vermont--they care only about themselves.
 
You're a fool. The State just negotiated a raise with the employees. If you think state employees make too much, blame the governor. He must have thought they deserved more or he wouldn't have offered a raise now would he? It's not like they can strike.
 
True that. Compare what the average BGS or DOC employee earns compared to Gibbs, Casey, Tringe, Zicconi or one of the governor's other talking heads. Who has the generous salary now? Case closed.
 
Where is Judge Judy when you need her!
 
Having read these posts, two places the State can't cut are in adult education on basic budget management or support group therapy spending for the unfortunates suffering from the heartbreak of terminal whining syndrome, victim mentality, self-inflicted bitteness and self-pity.
 
"the unfortunates suffering from the heartbreak of terminal whining syndrome, victim mentality, self-inflicted bitteness and self-pity."

Well, that'll be a huge blow to the Republicans in the state ... but if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.
 
Vermont has the most employees per capita than any other state. Over 9000 employees so it would make sense that through attrition we could reduce this payroll. I have been around Montpelier and Waterbury and I do not see a lot of them being overworked. To the contrary, I have had state employees tell me they do not have enough work so they play on their computers or read books a good part of the day. In business, if the incomes slows, the difficult decision is to lay off employees so why can't this be done in Montpelier?
 
"Vermont has the most employees per capita than any other state."

Other states outsource far more labor and they have far more people on county payrolls.

I'm not sure why we'd want to be more like New Jersey or Alabama ...
 
The fact is NEK's point is still valid. It doesn't matter if labor is outsourced or if there are more county employees. The fact is simple. We are spending $25MM more than we are bringing in. What do you do at home when this happens? You cut expenses if you can't raise your income.

You may not want to be like Alabama or New Jersey but I have a secret for you...economically we are Alabama and New Jersey. Quit the denial and address the problem. Cutting headcount is a good way to signal you are serious about controlling expenses.

Captain America
 
The governor backed off his closing of the capital gains loophole so Capt. America's and NEK's profits wouldn't be impacted. It also gives them plenty of time to sit at home in their palaces and fire off posts to this blog. Get jobs like the rest of us!
 
Does your boss know you are hanging out on the internet rather than working? Are you a State worker?

From my palace somewhere overlooking I-89,

Captain America
 
"The fact is NEK's point is still valid."

Actually it's not. He made up that little "fact".

It isn't true.
 
"We are spending $25MM more than we are bringing in."

That's not true either. The legislature is balancing the budget -- without selling the state lotto system. AND they are funding the November election ... which Douglas didn't do.
 
the fact we are overspending our income again? the fact we need to reduce spending? the fact we have more state employees than we can afford?

Oh yeah that's right we are breaking at the seams with state revenues.
 
The Legislature has NOT balanced the budget- they are in the process. What fact is anon of 12:47 questioning- the 9000 employees, the ones who play with the pc's, or the state has too many per capita? Check your facts first.
Oh BTW- my capital gains tax is under $100 and I collect a paycheck weekly and I work 50+ hrs/wk. - some of it making sure you libs get your stories straight.
 
I love it when Republicans try to make up "facts".

Next nek will say that there is no such thing as evolution ... and the moon is made of blue cheese.
 
Why don't you correct the facts if they are wrong?
 
NEK doesn't work. S/he is a professional blogger. Probably doesn't even hail from the NEK. I'll bet s/he's just a flatlander hiding behind a NEK name. 30 of NEK's 50-hour work week is most likely spent blogging in here and looking at porn.
 
and yours isn't? you speak with such authority. Does your boss know you are on the internet now?
 
does yours?
 
That Corrections guy Hoffmann is kind of flaky. I'll bet he's never worked a day in his life inside a prison. Probably has no respect from the workers. He's probably on cca's paycheck too, like douglas an sears.
 
are you an unemployed prison guard by chance?
 
Anonymous said... "does yours?"

I am your boss. Get back to work.
 
We prefer corrections officer please. Guard is so passe.
 
Reading some of these posts perhaps it should be Social Rehabilitative Specialist.
 
Unions will rape and pillage state government and the schools - I should know I am one of them.
 
It's good to know your enemy.
 
Get rid of the union in state government
 
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