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Vermont Health Department outlines $150M-plus budget, warns of federal funding uncertainty
Summary
Health Department Commissioner Mark Levine told the appropriations committee the department now manages roughly $150 million and that about 40% of its budget comes from federal funds; he urged caution given uncertain federal grant futures and described vacancy-savings and position changes from the COVID era.
Mark Levine, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health, told the House Appropriations subcommittee on health that the department's total budget has grown from about $150 million when he first appeared before the committee to a substantially larger figure today and that roughly 40% of the department's funding comes from federal sources.
Levine said the department is “an overwhelmingly federally funded enterprise” and that the relative share of general-fund dollars is small: about 11 percent, with a mix of federal grants and special funds covering the rest. He told members that this federal reliance increases departmental anxiety because federal grant levels and programmatic priorities can shift.
The department presented summary numbers to orient several newly appointed committee members and to explain how funding is currently structured. Levine noted that the department operates 12 district offices but is centrally administered, and he described the department’s mission and the scope of work across divisions such as environmental health, maternal and child health, laboratory science, and health statistics.
Levine said the department is budgeting a 3 percent vacancy-savings rate for the coming fiscal year, down from much higher vacancy levels seen during the COVID pandemic. “Three percent represents about what we expect to see these coming in,” he said when asked about vacancy savings. He also said COVID-era limited-service positions remain in the system through 2026 and that the department has “maximized their potential.”
Committee members asked for early indications about federal funding continuity; Levine said the department has seen rhetoric but not programmatic changes yet and that staff are analyzing vulnerabilities across the department. He said the department will provide more detailed analysis as the committee's budget team digs deeper.
The presentation included a reminder about the department’s role in data and evidence: “Public health is vital to all of us all of the time,” Levine said, underscoring the department’s continued focus on data-driven decision-making.
The committee did not take a vote on the department’s base appropriation at the hearing. Members asked staff to return with more detailed outcome measures and to examine risks tied to federal funding and position caps.
Looking ahead, Levine and staff signaled readiness to provide additional briefings and deeper budget analyses to the committee as staff and legislators prepare formal budget language and potential follow-up requests.
