Archive - Oct 14, 2010
STATE BUDGET: We need to protect programs for the young and the elderly, after that everything is on the table. We need to look at personnel not based on years of service but on performance. This may sound harsh but in the private sector if you don’t do your job you don’t keep it. I would prefer not to see taxes go up, but if we can’t streamline government, eliminate waste, and get people back to work I don’t know how it can be helped.
STATE BUDGET: Anyone who builds and lives by a budget on the family, community or state level knows that we continue to be in tough economic times. We cannot and will not spend more than we have. Having said that, we must be smart about how we downsize state government. We must not make cuts that will only push costs to the local level or only lead to much higher expenses in the short term.
STATE BUDGET: Regrettably this is not a new problem. Over the past three fiscal years we have successfully mopped up $753 million in red ink spilled as a result of the great recession. We’ve made program adjustments and we’ve cut budgets but we have also stood by Vermonters in a time of great need.
STATE BUDGET: I do not see how we can cut any programs, especially social service programs that are especially needed now. The best approach would be to reduce bureaucratic inflation, that means personnel, especially at the top level where some positions seem more to serve political rather then the public interest. I would favor modest increases in income taxes for those who can afford to pay them. To say more would be to require a crystal ball.
