Conference committee reviews capital bill spreadsheet, flags several line-item changes

On May 8, members of the Vermont General Assembly conference committee charged with reconciling the capital bill reviewed a consolidated spreadsheet comparing the governor's recommendation, the House packet and the conference positions, and discussed proposed shifts in bond and cash funding for multiple projects.

The committee considered offsetting changes including a $645,000 reduction in bonded funding for statewide major maintenance with a corresponding $645,000 increase in cash, a proposal to add $250,000 for a statewide three-acre parcel, a $200,000 addition for Pittsburg County firing-range upgrades, and a $250,000 increase tied to a 32 Cherry Street item (a $500,000 net change noted on the sheet). “I prepared after their last meeting was a spreadsheet that just shows the GovRec and the latest packet from the house,” a staff member said, adding the document was intended to make proposals easier to compare and is not an approval by the Senate.

Committee members and staff noted other agreed items already reflected on the sheet. The group confirmed a $2,500,000 cash item described as municipal lease infrastructure for housing (entered as line 35a on the spreadsheet to preserve downstream line numbering), and a separate set of six projects that were restored to previous bond levels at $300,000 each, consistent with historical budgeting, according to the staff member who prepared the spreadsheet.

The packet discussion also covered smaller reallocations: $45,000 moved from a referenced cash line into pending maintenance, and a proposal to reduce FY27 bonded dollars for a Rutland building/station project by $355,000 to reallocate funding elsewhere in the package. The staff member said the overall two‑year bill shows a timing-based overspend and underspend pattern that balances across the biennium: “For the end of the day, in fiscal year 26 we’ve overspent by 4,473 total dollars. And then of that by ’27, we have underspent by 476,000,” the staff member said.

Financial staff from the Joint Fiscal Office were asked to work through the spreadsheet with committee members and to circulate copies. “I’m gonna have JFO, our financial person, Scott Moore, to please work out through this,” the committee chair said, and the staff member confirmed copies would be sent to named staff and could be posted.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript. Committee members indicated some line items had already been agreed to in prior meetings while others remain proposals for negotiation between the chambers; members said they would pause or reconvene parts of the discussion until outstanding language or clarifications arrive.

Smaller technical items were also mentioned in passing on the sheet, including entries for the University of Vermont, Vermont State Colleges and the Agency of Natural Resources with no proposed changes, and references to a dry hydrant entry and the general fund transfer number used to balance sources and uses. Staff said the spreadsheet aligns line items so reviewers can cross‑reference the same items across multiple documents.