Vermont Agriculture agency proposes about $59.99 million 2026 budget, cites salary and benefit costs as main driver

Secretary Anson Tebbetts and Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Chief Operating Officer Nicole Dubuque presented the agency’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry. The proposal totals about $59.99 million and includes what agency officials described as a net increase of roughly $609,000 over the current spending plan, with salary and benefit increases cited as the largest drivers.

The proposal breaks the agency’s base funding roughly into four streams: general fund (about 21 percent), federal funds (about 40 percent), special funds (about 35 percent) and interdepartmental transfers (about 4 percent). “We have about a $610,000 general fund increase over the current spending plan,” Tebbetts said. Officials told the committee that the budget does not reflect a major expansion of new programming but does add specific grant and federal award dollars in some areas.

Agency officials identified the main upward cost pressures as employee compensation and benefits, internal services and retirement costs. Nicole Dubuque said salary and benefits account for much of the proposed increase and noted the collective-bargaining cost-of-living adjustment used in planning: a 4.5 percent salary increase for the contract year. Health insurance costs were…