Update June 2012

In this issue:
-- Star power for Public Assets
-- A Vermont budget for Vermonters
-- School taxes get fairer—a bit
-- Sputtering or progressing?
-- Education support: Stuck in 2008

Star power for Public Assets
Two thorns in the health insurers' sides—documentarist Michael Moore, who directed "SiCKO," and insurance industry whistleblower Wendell Potter—will headline a Philadelphia fundraiser on June 30 to support Public Assets Institute's ramped-up work on health care financing and reform. Our kickoff: a series of briefs this summer to help Vermonters understand what reform is and how it affects them. Tickets to the Philly event are first come, first served.

A Vermont budget for Vermonters
The Legislature took three important steps this year toward connecting Vermonters with the state budget. For the first time, the budget's purpose—to improve Vermonters' well-being—will be written in statute, and the state will regularly assess how well it is meeting that goal. Second, the administration will publish what public services cost, not just what elected officials propose to spend on them. Finally, the law calls for greater public participation before the governor's budget is delivered to the Legislature each January. This new thinking is part of the Vermont Workers' Center's People's Budget, which we support.

School taxes get fairer—a bit
The Legislature didn't undo enough of the ill-considered changes to Vermont's education financing system, as we suggested in early May. One rule, counting interest or dividend income twice, no longer applies to residents 65 and older who pay school taxes as a percentage of their income. That's good. But those under 65 aren't so lucky. They still have to double count that income if it's over $10,000. Middle-income homeowners who pay based on their income and also must pay a school property tax on the value of their home didn't see any relief either. Maybe next year.

Sputtering or progressing?
Public Assets' May Jobs Briefs suggested that Vermont's job growth was "sputtering," even though the unemployment rate dropped—while the Shumlin Administration celebrated the lower rate. That made some national noise. The AP put an item about our report on the wire, and at least 17 media outlets, from Rhode Island to Texas to Oregon, picked it up. Why the kerfuffle? Read the May and June briefs and VPR's June 25 report featuring Paul Cillo.

Education support: Stuck in 2008
The fiscal 2013 budget appropriates $282 million from the state General Fund to the Education Fund—about the same amount appropriated in fiscal 2008 before the recession hit. The Vermont Transparency website shows the pattern of General Fund transfers to the Education Fund, along with other fiscal 2013 budget details. The share of education expenditures covered by the General Fund has fallen from 24 percent six years ago to 20 percent in fiscal 2013, which has pushed more of the cost of education onto the property tax.

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Public Assets Institute, PO Box 942, Montpelier, Vermont 05601.