Vermont disabilities, aging agency briefs Appropriations on midyear budget pressures, nursing home relief requests

Commissioner Jill Bowen, commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Jan. 31 that the agency’s midyear budget adjustment request includes multiple items to address nursing home and long‑term services cost pressures and collective‑bargaining increases for direct support workers.

Bowen said the department’s priorities reflect Vermont’s aging demographics and its multisector 10‑year plan, Strong Vermont, and summarized divisions and services that serve older Vermonters and people with disabilities including Choices for Care, residential supports, case management, respite and rehabilitation services. “Our mission statement is to make Vermont the best state in the nation in which to grow old or live with a disability, with dignity, respect, and independence,” Bowen said.

Why it matters: committee members pressed the department on where midyear carryforward and reserve funds can be applied and how ongoing cost pressures for nursing homes are being handled. The department said a statutory 1% reserve is…