VT departments told to keep belts tight
Vermont state government departments are being asked to create “extremely cautious and restrained” budget proposals for next fiscal year.
Gov. Peter Shumlin’s secretary of administration, Justin Johnson, told agencies and departments in a memo this week not to expect additional money from the general fund as they sketch their fiscal 2017 plans.
Initial level-funded budget summaries are due Sept. 25, kicking off discussions that will culminate with the governor’s January budget proposal to the Legislature.
“It’s a beginning of a process. Seems like we didn’t finish the last one that long ago,” Johnson said.
Johnson anticipates another tight year for state finances. Budget writers have been struggling to keep spending in line with moderate revenue growth.
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Last year lawmakers had to plan around a $113 million gap between projected revenues and expenses. It’s too soon to know what next year’s figure will be, Johnson said in an interview.
State agencies have been barred from adding new positions in their initial budget submissions.
In addition, Johnson expects that about 300 state employees will retire this fall, taking advantage of incentives that were written into the state budget.
“Although up to 25% of positions vacated through the retirement incentive can be refilled, for this exercise please assume that none of the positions vacated through the retirement incentive program in your department will be refilled,” state officials were instructed.
“This may require your Agency or Department to scale down or eliminate programs that cannot operate without the necessary personnel.”
This story was first posted online on Aug. 26, 2015. Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank.