I was asked by the St. Albans Messenger a series of questions that will continue each week until the election on November 6th. This is the second question: State officials have put the cost for cleaning up Lake Champlain at $1.2 billion over 20 years. There is still no agreed upon funding source for this work. How do you think the state should fund its clean water efforts?

Clean water is essential to our state, especially to our local economy. I think we need to act immediately to clean up our lakes but that doesn’t mean the first thing we do is look for a new tax or fee.  Vermonters are frustrated with the legislature currently because they don’t address our affordability crisis. We just watched our legislature raise property taxes in a year in which we have a significant surplus and they continue debate the carbon tax.

We need legislators who will take the time to prioritize how we spend your money.  Water quality should be one of those top priorities.  Addressing our affordability crisis, growing our economy, combating our opiate epidemic and cleaning our water are top priorities of mine and I will work hard to address those and in doing so do everything I can not to make Vermont less affordable for you and your family.