<div id="subtitle">Vermont Gov. Douglas: Cut school, health care spending, no new taxes</div><div><p>Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas on Tuesday laid out an austere budget for the next fiscal year, saying the state must close a $150 million money gap by taking such steps as: more than quadrupling deductibles paid by some public health care beneficiaries; trimming payments to human services providers; reducing subsidies to help middle-income Vermonters pay school property taxes.</p><p>"We must work diligently to ensure Vermonters have access to essential state services, while resisting new taxes that will aggravate future budget challenges," Douglas said in a letter accompanying his budget message to the Legislature. "And we must make smart investments in job creation, technology and higher education, so we can help Vermonters get back to work _strengthening our economy and growing our tax base."</p><p>The governor proposed a general fund budget of about $1.1 billion; when all other state funding is added in, including federal money the state passes through for human services, transportation and other programs, Vermont will see about $4.7 billion in spending in fiscal 2011.</p><p>Douglas said the state budget has been getting squeezed from two directions: The economic downturn has prompted a nearly 20 percent drop in revenues flowing to the state's general fund since 2007; meanwhile, costs are growing for corrections and other human services, teacher and state employee retirement benefits and aid to property taxpayers.</p><p>Key lawmakers said they have not had time to absorb the governor's proposal and could not respond in detail.</p><p>Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, a candidate to replace the retiring Douglas and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the governor's proposal appeared to be "a good-faith effort."</p><p>"There are Legislatures all over the country getting these sorts of budgets" from their governors, Bartlett said. "This is just the first step in the budget process."</p><p>"It's an austere budget that matches the austere times," said Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee.</p><p>The Republican governor repeatedly has called tax increases anathema, and has said the state's budget gap must be closed mainly with cuts.</p><p>That stance, and recent supportive comments about it from leaders of the Democrat-controlled Legislature, angered Tim Searles, director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Oppoortunity, an antipoverty agency.</p><p>"Why is it always cuts to the most vulnerable Vermonters?" Searles asked. "Why are revenues (tax increases) never among the options considered any more?"</p><p>Douglas did propose increases in some budget areas, saying they were needed to position the state better to attract new jobs as the economy rebounds.</p><p>He proposed a 7 percent increase, to about $85 million, in state funding for the University of Vermont, state colleges and the Vermont Student Assistance Corp., which provides financial aid for students.</p><p>He asked for $8 million in new money for information technology, saying he wants to streamline the state's computer systems and set up a new Web portal, "myvermont.gov," through which citizens could interact with state agencies.</p><p>And he wants to couple $3 million from the general fund with $5 million in money raised through issuing bonds to pursue his "e-state initiative," with the goal of getting high-speed Internet and cell phone service to every corner of Vermont.</p><p>On transportation, the governor said he would boost funding by $14 million, to a bit over $400 million, with an emphasis on paving Vermont's weather-beaten roads, including 90 miles of interstate highways this year. Bridges also will be a focus, with $28 million as a down payment on replacing the Champlain Bridge, which was declared unsafe in October and blown up last month.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67291383&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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