State urged to watch cuts

November 18, 2008
By Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer

MONTPELIER — They spoke for Vermonters needing health care, mental health services, for the very young trying to get a good start in life, for the elderly struggling to stay at home, for those who worry about the environment and about the state’s energy future.

The speakers, who came to the Statehouse at the urging of a coalition of advocates, had one message Monday for lawmakers and the Douglas administration: Please don’t cut government services hastily despite the state’s flagging revenues.

“I urge you please to hear families’ voices before making changes that will impact our lives,” said Claudia Pringles, Montpelier lawyer and mother of a daughter with autism.

Gov. Jim Douglas and the heads of the Legislature’s money committees expect to learn today from their economic advisers that revenue projections have declined again. Twice already this year, the administration and lawmakers have pared millions from general fund spending because of shrinking revenues. The most recent cut was $24 million in late August.

“Are they going to be making these choices in the absence of public input?” asked Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. They shouldn’t, he said.

Cuts shouldn’t be the only option, argued Melissa Riegel-Garrett of the Kids are Priority One Coalition. “Gov. Douglas’ solution is cuts. There are other answers,” she said, suggesting tapping the state’s contingency fund or eliminating an income tax exemption on...

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