Times Argus, July 7, 2008, by Dave Gram (link to article).

MONTPELIER — Cost of a five-pound bag of flour at Mehuron’s Supermarket in Waitsfield in 2005: $1.89. Cost as of June: $2.79.

Cost of a gallon of maple syrup at Kent’s Corner Sugarhouse in Calais in 2005: $36. Cost of a gallon now: $48.

Average cost for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Vermont in January of 2003, the month Jim Douglas became governor: $1.52. Average cost in June: $3.97.

Affordability as an issue in this year’s gubernatorial race: Priceless.

Blame increased demand for petroleum by China and India, blame the oil speculators, blame the rush to use corn for fuel instead of food, blame the Democrats who control the Legislature. But, Douglas insists, don’t blame him.

Affordability — or the lack of it — is hurting Vermont’s ability to attract and retain young workers, the governor said recently, touching on a theme he has raised repeatedly.

“This is a problem, economically, demographically. What I’m trying to accomplish is to make sure everybody can afford to live here. I need a willing partner in the General Assembly and in a number of different ways, that hasn’t happened.”

Douglas has at least three reasons to try to lay the blame at lawmakers’ feet:

One, he says he genuinely believes they are at fault, though every new law that has raised state motor vehicle fees or other costs for Vermonters has been both passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor.

Two, he’s made “an agenda of affordability” a touchstone since introducing it in his State of the State address in 2006 and running on it in that year’s campaign. And yet, it’s an agenda on which progress appears to have been mixed at best.

Three, one of the two most visible lawmakers in recent years — the other being Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin — is House Speaker Gaye Symington, a Democrat seeking to unseat the Republican governor this year.

Both of Douglas’ major opponents this year, Symington and Progressive Anthony Pollina, say the governor has provided lackluster leadership and has failed to deliver sufficiently either on the agenda of affordability or an earlier slogan, “Jim equals jobs.”

“For him it’s all about slogans and this one (the agenda of affordability) is crumbling as quickly as our bridges are,” said Pollina, who has made the need to fix Vermont’s infrastructure a key issue in his campaign.

No one is saying any of Vermont’s elected officials are to blame for the run-up in petroleum prices, but there are some things over which they have more control.

In late June, Douglas called a news conference to lambaste lawmakers for not doing anything this year to stem rising property taxes. He blamed lawmakers for rejecting a proposed tax cap two years ago.

Symington countered that Douglas hasn’t done much to offer constructive ideas for stemming growth in property taxes that has averaged more than 7 percent a year for the last 10 years. She argues that Douglas’ proposals to take money from the education fund for roads and to reduce funding for local road and bridge repairs would have driven up property taxes further.

“Vermonters know that Jim Douglas has had six years to lower property tax rates and he has failed,” Symington said. She accused the governor of “a pattern of pointing the finger at others for his failures.”

The lion’s share of property tax revenues go for schools, and the increases have come as student enrollment figures have declined.

Here’s what’s happened to the taxes on one modest Montpelier cape valued by the city at $136,000 while years of the political back-and-fourth have continued: In the 2003-2004 tax year, taxes on that house were $3,971.20. That was the year Vermont’s sales tax was increased by 20 percent, from 5 to 6 cents on a dollar, in hopes of taking pressure off of property taxes.

For the 2008-2009 tax year, the levy on that house, still assessed at $136,000, is expected to rise to $4,678.40, if the City Council this week approves the 9.1 percent increase city officials will present to it.

Aside from property taxes, Douglas’ agenda of affordability has had three other targets: higher education, health care and housing. His “Promise Scholarship” proposal was scaled back by lawmakers and his affordable housing proposal ended up this year in a compromise that is “not as extensive as I wished,” he said.

While the scholarship idea ended up as a more modest workforce training package, increases in higher education costs continued.

University of Vermont spokesman Enrique Corredera said the average cost for room, board and tuition for an in-state student receiving financial aid was $6,485 in 2002-2003; the average cost this past year was $11,271.

On health care, Douglas said Vermont’s new Catamount Health program has been successful in getting coverage to the previously uninsured. But he acknowledged that most Vermonters who get health care through work have seen sharp increases in premiums, copays and deductibles.

Overall, the governor said, Vermont had seen “some progress on these areas, but we have to do more, we have to do better.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.