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Peter Conlon, Democrat, Addison-2
Qualification: I have volunteered in many areas over many decades, from Peace Corps volunteer, to Little League coach, to firefighter, to elementary school PTA president, to 17 years on the Middlebury Union High School and then Addison Central School District boards. This strong background in community, and especially my many years as a school board member, has not only grounded me in the issues at hand, but, more importantly, in how to move a goal and vision forward as a group. Legislating requires building consensus to find success.
Education funding: The large increase in property taxes should have us looking not only at how we fund our schools, but how much our system costs to operate. Our education spending increase from the last fiscal year to this one was an unprecedented $250 million statewide. Unfortunately, many of the cost drivers, such as health insurance premiums, contract settlements, aging buildings, and very high student need, have not changed. That is why I helped create the current Commission on the Future of Public Education, the charge for which is to bring the Legislature actionable ideas to bring education costs — and therefore property taxes — under control while providing the high quality education and academic progress Vermonters expect.
It won’t be easy, and will require very tough decisions by the Legislature that break traditions, but, given the high costs, declining enrollment and aging buildings, these decisions must happen. We are at a crucial point in the future of public education. Communities can’t handle more increases like we have seen, and another round of budget defeats will be devastating.
The CFPE brings together people from all parts of our system, including those of us who set tax rates. It must find a vision for our system to ensure quality and affordability in Vermont and get us all moving toward it. Then the Legislature must have the courage to responsibly implement the needed change.
Housing: Our housing crisis is an anchor weighing down our economy, our ability to balance our demographics, and our efforts to move Vermont forward. Jobs at all levels are hard to fill, and key service jobs such as health care workers, caregivers, teachers, mental health workers are even harder. It all comes down to our lack of affordable housing.
There is no easy fix that doesn’t include government subsidy. While the improvements we made to Act 250 greatly reduce the regulatory hurdles for more housing in towns and villages with the needed infrastructure and zoning regulations, it doesn’t change the math significantly. The cost of construction, of land, of labor, of bringing in services still means that it is nearly impossible to build housing a young family can afford. And in rural areas, drilling wells and building septic systems that meet environmental standards just add to the cost.
The marketplace isn’t going to solve this issue in the near term, especially as demand for construction material surges in the wake of back-to-back hurricanes in the South. When the marketplace can’t solve a challenge this great, government needs to help. In 2024, I supported a 3% tax on incomes above $500,000 per year for 10 years with that money devoted entirely to affordable housing and addressing homelessness.
Vermont took on our childcare crisis with this kind of bold policy and the payoff was immediate, with 1,000 childcare slots opening in the first few months government assistance was available, many of them in Addison County. When the market fails and big problems are weighing down our ability to offer even basic services, big fixes are needed.
Climate crisis: I supported the Affordable Heat Act (a.k.a. Clean Heat Standard) and its in-depth study of whether a system of incentives could help all Vermonters move toward a carbon-free future, not just those who can afford it today. That study is wrapping up, the preliminary cost estimates are in, and it appears the system outlined in the study is prohibitively expensive. That number, however, includes applying every aspect envisioned in the program. We will need to examine the study to see what can be accomplished to bring the new carbon-free technologies to all Vermonters who choose them without placing the kind of burden the study estimates full implementation would bring.
I burn wood and oil to heat my house. But I burn a lot less than I used to thanks to help we received from incentives to air seal and insulate. The change has been dramatic. We need to broaden the outreach for these programs and continue to plan for a carbon-free future that leaves no Vermonter behind. Of course, all of this requires skilled labor that today is hard to find — another example of how our progress forward is hampered by our lack of affordable housing.
Other priorities: Vermonters are only just learning about the precariousness of our very expensive health care system. It is on the verge of collapse if we don’t take significant and difficult steps that recognize we can no longer afford the system we have, especially operating 14 hospitals that all try to do most everything. A legislative-commissioned report shows that eight of our hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, our demographics of a generally older population continues to put pressure on all aspects of our system.
Health care premiums are skyrocketing and contribute to many other challenges, such as the cost of our public education system. Vermonters like my wife and me who purchase our insurance on the exchange (Vermont Health Connect) drop levels of coverage just to continue to afford it and face the likely end of federal subsidies if Trump wins the election.
We need to stabilize this system before we start talking seriously about moving toward universal health care — something I support. This means revamping our hospital system and creating areas of specialization. This would not only save money but improve outcomes as physicians become more skilled in their specialties by having more opportunities to practice them. It also means that not every hospital can afford to provide in-patient care and such a broad range of services. Like our public education system, we are going to have to accept new models, regional thinking, and make difficult decisions. But if we do, we can improve outcomes and bend the cost curve significantly.
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