Earlier this week the Vermont State Legislature received an updated fiscal note from our Joint Fiscal Office. This note updated the Legislature on our Fiscal Year 2020 budget, the upcoming 2021 budget, as well as some federal funds that should be coming to Vermont in the near future. 

The state’s budget is an evolving document. Currently, our expected revenues change weekly, and with all of the deferments on tax payments and the state of our economy, the budget is most uncertain. Right now we currently see a $61 million shortfall in our General Fund, an $89 million shortfall in our Education Fund, and a $40 million shortfall in our Transportation Fund. 

There is relief available in the form of the Federal CARES Act. The stimulus bill will be allotting $1.25 billion to the state of Vermont and is expected to arrive by April 24th. The money hopefully will be used to help ease the burden on our healthcare system, our K-12 education system, higher education and help fill the gap in other areas in our budget. 

We face an extremely hard uphill battle ahead of us as a state. People are still struggling to file unemployment insurance, with over 70,000 claims made thus far. We will get through this because we are Vermont Strong. If anyone has any questions please feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected]. Stay safe and be well.

Best,

Casey