Lt. Gov. Dubie Predicts

Lt. Gov. Dubie Predicts

Montpelier ‘Showdown’

By M. D. Drysdale

Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie used questions from his breakfast audience Tuesday morning to mount a strong defense of the Douglas Administration’s response to the financial crisis.

He predicted that April will see “a showdown between the governor and the legislature” over the issue of raising taxes to pay for continued state services.

Dubie appeared—for the fifth time—at legislative breakfast sponsored by the Randolph Chamber of Commerce, held at the Three Stallion Inn with about 25 attending.

Chamber President Mike Van Dyke presided and announced that Gov. Jim Douglas will be the speaker at an April 13 breakfast, which is open to the public.

The Republican adminstration and the Democrat-dominated legislature have been at odds all spring over how to meet an expected 18% drop in state revenues. Douglas has asked for a cut of 660 jobs in state government and has been adamant that broad-based state taxes should not be raised to pay for the shortfall.

Democrats generally have argued that in addition to making cuts, the state needs to increase its revenue—and that would mean some higher taxes. They have also argued that the more than $600 million in stimulus money to Vermont should be used to minimize job cuts.

Dubie defended the governor’s approach Tuesday, saying that state government must learn to “change the way we deliver services.”

“It’s not easy,” he allowed, “but we can cut some of the functions of state government and still deliver services.”

“We don’t want to cut anything,” he said, “But we cannot, we will not, go into deficit. We will have a balanced budget.”

The stimulus, he said, must be used as a “bridge” to better times, but not as a “crutch.”

Gifford Medical Center President Joe Woodin expressed a need for more job creation, and Dubie used that comment as an argument for the governor’s position on new taxes.

“If you make your taxes competitive, you will grow jobs,” he told the Chamber audience. As an example, he cited a targeted cut in sales taxes that spurred the growth of an airplane-repair industry around the Burlington Airport.

The “quality of life” factor goes only so far in attracting jobs and businesses to the state, Dubie said. What’s important, he said, is the cost of product, the quality, and the speed in which products can be delivered to the market.

The cost of products is affected both by taxes and by the cost of power, he noted.

The cost of electric power is related to the legislature’s upcoming decision about whether to allow Vermont Yankee to continue operating another 20 years.

He said he would rely on the state’s Public Service Board to analyze that question, but indicated that he believes that “technical questions” have been satisfactorily answered.