Lawmakers say Vermont could face economic storm ahead

For Westman, who was celebrating his birthday Monday, the federal money is not the gift that keeps on giving.

“The people who are on the bottom half of the economic ladder in places like for Vermont are now running through that money that they put away, and they’re going to run out of money about the same time that we run out of all the stimulus money and the infrastructure money from the feds,” Westman said during a legislative panel Monday in Johnson. “What that will do to our economy is there’s going to be a contraction, and the contraction is going to be in about two years.”

These monthly legislative meetings, sponsored by the Lamoille Economic Development Corporation and hosted in different locations each time — this one was at Jenna’s House in Johnson — often end up having an underlying theme to them. This one was about how to continue funding things when the federal funding dries up.

Joe Woodin, the CEO of Copley Hospital, brought up the topic to lawmakers, noting that the collapse over the weekend of Silicon Valley Bank could be a “canary in a coal mine,” foreshadowing dark economic days ahead.

“I’m just concerned, having all of us spent so much money, how do we make sure that a year or two, or years from now, we’re able to take care of the vulnerable population by not spending so much now and then realizing, ‘Oh my gosh, we didn’t budget and plan well, and we’re going to fall off the cliff,” Woodin said. “Then a lot of people are going to be really hurting.”

Westman said it is key to keep money in reserve for a rainy day, not just for when the federal money runs out — he said the state has spent about one-third of it so far — but for “when the economy goes south.”

He said the state keeps a 5 percent reserve at the bottom line of the general fund, but if things get bad, that 5 percent “will be gone like the dew before the sun.”

Rep. Jed Lipsky, I-Stowe, pointed to local food resiliency programs and organizations like Salvation Farms could play a greater role.

Rep. Mark Higley, R-Lowell, the most conversative of the area legislators, said all lawmakers have their “pet projects” but those things ought to be scaled back — he cited a proposed “best in the country” paid family leave bill which Gov. Phil Scott already vetoed while proposing his own more modest version.

Higley said people in his communities ask him and other lawmakers to rein in spending, but “you don’t see that in Montpelier,” where conservative voices are often drowned out.

“We have to take some harder stands if we are going to weather the storm, if you ask me,” he said. “But I don’t see it happening.”