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


12.17.2008

 

Welcome to the Lake Champlain Boat Casino

The list of other budget cuts that have been floated is up on the state Web site:

http://finance.vermont.gov/state_budget/rec/fy2009rescission

Scanning the list I immediately see some items I'm doing at home, even if I haven't thought of it in so many words (I hardly ever use the word procurement when I'm talking about groceries):

- Freeze all procurement if non-essential items.
- Extend all life cycles of durables like fleet vehicles and technology equipment.

Also on the list:
- Asking UVM and other public entities to cap salaries.
- eliminating some or all public information positions (I'm guessing that one came from the leggie, not the administration).
- 10 percent layoffs (that's 800 people).
- Reopen the state employees' contract (that can only be initiated by the leggie)
- Shorter work week or furloughs of state employees
- Review the purpose of all boards and commissions and repeal the obsolete.
- Consolidate state's attorneys
- Eliminate driver's ed
- Reduce income sensitivity level for property taxes
- Eliminate Next Generation scholarships
- Mothball unpopular state parks
- Eliminate the Commerce Agency.
- Sell some small airports
- Drop the front license plate
- Kill Catamount Health or freeze enrollment (this has Shumlin written all over it)
- More electronic monitoring of low-risk offenders instead of prison
- Send more inmates out of state
- Build a prison and take in other state's prisoners
- Tax junk food
- Tax clothing
- Up the cost of speeding tickets
- Boat-based casino on Lake Champlain (yeah, right)

Those are just some of the options. I'm sure you have more and some thoughts about these.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Comments:
Eliminate the Commerce Agency must be Kitzmiller's idea. He just doesn't understand why anyone would be in business to make a profit.
 
Just what we need: eliminate driver's ed. We don't have enough inept driver's on the road.
 
how about the Legislature meeting every other year instead of every year? Many states do that. Others, like Indiana (I kinda think they are a little bigger than us, by the way) have one "anything goes" session that lasts like 5 months (like us), and then the next year is just a "budget" session that lasts less than 2 months.

Also, eliminate funding for - or eliminate altogether - Regional Planning Commissions. If we aren't allowing anything to be built in VT anyway, what's the purpose of paying people to plan our non-development?
 
The Legislature serves an important role in state government. Without it, we have a dictatorship.

To say that we should not plan our development is very short sighted.
 
How to sock it to the poor--hasn't enough been proposed along that line already?: reduce income sensitivity for property taxes so those not endangered by the mortgage situation can have a tax sale instead; tax clothing (clothing costing over 100 dollars is already subject to tax), eliminate driver's ed so only those who can afford private lessons can learn to drive safely; kill Catamount health so only those who can afford private insurance can be healthy. (I'm guessing these came from the administration, not the legislature.)
 
Build a prison and take in other state's prisoners--we don't have enough of our own--and these would be real felons not home grown wannabes.
 
Let's build another nuke plant and sell the power
 
Build a giant prison is a good idea. Jobs, helps local ma and pa's, tax revs...
 
Yeah and they can all migrate back here when they get out and bring their skills with them.
 
Anonymous said...

"Eliminate the Commerce Agency must be Kitzmiller's idea. He just doesn't understand why anyone would be in business to make a profit."

Yeah, it's not like he'd successfully owned and operated Onion River Sports in Montpelier from 1974-2000 before selling that Montpelier landmark business which continues to thrive today or that he'd been on the Board of Directors, Vermont Retail Association, 1978-present
Montpelier Business Association, 1990-2000 or Chair, Montpelier on the Move or anything, so what the hell would he know about building, owning and operating business for profit next to your ignorant anonymous ass, little factose-intolerant fella?

To say you're dumber than a box of rocks is really an insult to the comparative intelligence of both boxes and rocks, schmuck.

You really are the ignorant anonymous trash gift that keeps on givin', little fella.

Don't go changin'.
 
I now see why we are screwed in this state - if the level of intelligence reflected in these posts is any indication, all the talented people have fled for a place of normalcy.

As far as I'm concerned, the BFP does a great disservice with this forum - hey, maybe I'll cut my subscriptions - then they'll lay people off too
 
"The Legislature serves an important role in state government. Without it, we have a dictatorship."

It doesn't act like it plays an important role. It's a bunch of unruly kids.

"To say that we should not plan our development is very short sighted."

You didn't address the poster's comment. In fact, we have almost no development in Vermont. What's there to plan?
 
Aha. Coopnut must be kitzmiller's cousin.
 
No just correcting an unfair assessment made by someone uninformed about the individual he is maligning.
 
maybe the coopmiester is kitzmiller
 
I've met both Kitzmiller is way higher on the food chain than Cooper.
 
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