State historic preservation officials outline large maintenance backlog, ask for increased capital funding

Laura Trieschmann, the Vermont State Historic Preservation Officer, told the Capital Budget Committee on Jan. 29 that the Division for Historic Preservation is managing 84 buildings and about 2,000 acres that require continuing repairs, and asked the committee to consider boosting the governor's capital recommendation to address an expanding backlog.

"I am Laura Trieschmann, the Vermont State Historic Preservation Officer. This is a position I've been pointed to for 12 years now," Trieschmann said at the hearing. She said the office recorded 82,000 visits to state historic sites in the most recent year and brought in "over half a $1,000,000" in admissions and gift-shop revenue.

The central budget dispute presented to the committee is the size of the historic sites major-maintenance allocation for the next capital biennium. Trieschmann said the agency's official request was $700,000 for FY26 and $700,000 for FY27, while the governor's recommended capital budget includes $550,000 for each year. Trieschmann told the committee the program's anticipated need for the two-year period is $2,240,000.

Jamie Duggan, director of preservation in the Division for Historic Preservation, described how years of level funding and the loss of in-house design and project-management capacity prompted…