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Joint Fiscal Office previews web report and outlines budget adjustment changes, including $8.6M for housing
Summary
Joint Fiscal Office staff previewed an early draft of the web report for the budget adjustment bill on Jan. 31, 2025, showing line-item changes from the FY2025 enacted budget, and highlighted committee additions and removals including an $8,600,000 appropriation for the Vermont Housing Conservation Board and several one-time adjustments.
Maria Blair of the Joint Fiscal Office on Jan. 31 presented an early draft of the web report that accompanies the budget adjustment bill, walking committee members through how the document aligns line-item numbers with bill language and where the committee’s changes will appear.
Why it matters: The web report is the floor document that shows dollar changes between the enacted FY2025 budget, gubernatorial proposals, and the House-adjusted figures. It is used to generate the numbers section of the budget bill and to explain committee decisions to members and the public.
Blair explained the report’s columns — the enacted budget, the governor’s recommended changes, the governor’s new totals, and the House changes — and showed examples in the draft. She pointed to specific sections where the committee’s actions will be reflected, including:
- Treasurer’s office one-time appropriations section (B105): committee removed a $14,000,000 governor proposal in the draft. - Vermont Department of Health (B1100D): committee removed $4,000,000 in contingent sustainability grants from the governor’s proposal. - Department for Children and Families one-time (B1100E): committee added $1,840,304 to extend a cold-weather exemption. - Provider stabilization grants: committee appropriated $10,000,000 (referenced during the web report discussion). - Vermont Housing Conservation Board (B1100W): two language changes were noted in that section; staff described a $28,000,000 item for pilot project completion and an $8,600,000 item for housing initiatives discussed in committee language review. - Judiciary-related change: committee staff noted an $850,000 reallocation/reversion issue tied to prior budgeting and Act 113; staff said that change appears in the language section rather than the numbers section because it alters the use of an older appropriation.
Blair told members the web report shows function totals (for example, protection of persons and property) and the source-of-funds lines (general funds, special funds, internal service funds). She said the draft will be posted on the Joint Fiscal Office and committee webpages and used as a floor document once finalized. Committee members asked about where specific reversions and reallocated funds show up in the document and about the relationship between language amendments and numerical line items.
There was no recorded committee roll-call vote on the web report itself during this session; staff said they will finalize and post the document and that the committee would reconvene later for the final budget adjustment discussion and vote.
The committee scheduled a final discussion and vote later that afternoon to consider all changes together when additional members — including Radka Syszka — were available.
