Senate Transportation probes AOT funding and authority to advance District 8 garage office

At a Wednesday meeting of the Senate Transportation committee, Damian Leonard, legislative counsel for the Vermont General Assembly, told members that the Agency of Transportation (AOT) moved ahead with construction of the office portion of the District 8 garage after receiving a lower contractor quote and that the legal authority for doing so without prior legislative approval was unclear.

Leonard said the legislature has the authority to appropriate state funds and that the statute most relevant to the transportation program — 19 V.S.A. § 10(h) — allows the transportation secretary to advance other projects in the adopted transportation program when capital projects are delayed because of permitting, right‑of‑way, construction, local concerns or funding shortfalls, or to address emergencies. He said those statutory categories do not clearly authorize advancing a later phase of a scheduled project solely to capture contractor cost savings. "My legal opinion is yes. I don't see anything in the…