Committee confirms veterans’ home design/construction funding and directs reallocation tracking

The drafting committee reviewed language that would allow the state to transfer previously authorized balances and to fund design and construction work at the Vermont Veterans’ Home, and it agreed to specific tracking and reallocation language to ensure legislative oversight.

The record shows committee members identified prior appropriations and the need to allow transfers between previously authorized bonded and cash balances to support work on specific wings and critical systems. Committee staff identified a 1.5 million figure connected to a wing project for design and construction and discussed associated emergency generator and boiler plant replacement work.

Why it matters: the Veterans’ Home allocations are sizable cash and bonded line items in the capital bill. Committee members said they want clear reallocation authority and traceability so the legislature can follow why money moves between projects and what remains in project balances.

What was discussed
Members referenced prior appropriations from Act 69 (noted on the committee spreadsheet) that included $300,000 in cash and $1.5 million in bonded money for a laboratory/ag‑related project and drew a parallel to prior cash/bond mixes for the Veterans’ Home. The committee asked staff to preserve reallocation authority that lets agencies transfer project balances where projects have not advanced or where priorities have changed.

Committee staff described how cash typically “goes out the door first” and reviewed which past appropriations remain available to meet current design/construction needs. The group debated whether to make the transfer language explicit in the bill or to effect transfers administratively and then account for them in appropriations records. Scott and other staff explained the practical approach: where a transfer is intended to fund a program run by another agency, the committee can reduce the deposit to the relevant cash account and let appropriations record the recipient agency line item directly.

Next steps
Committee staff will confirm the precise line‑by‑line dollar amounts and whether transfers should be shown on the bill’s spreadsheet or handled as direct transfers in appropriations language. Members asked staff to prepare a clean draft that tracks cash and bonded balances clearly for the next circulation.

Ending
Members agreed to keep the reallocation/transfer authority in the bill while improving the transparency and spreadsheet tracking of those moves for floor explanation.