Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Agency of Human Services seeks $3.75 billion for FY27; proposes $9.9M in program cuts and flags $195M rural health fund uncertainty
Summary
At a March 10 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, AHS Secretary Jenny Samuelson outlined a $3.75 billion FY2027 request (6.1% GF increase), citing FMAP shifts, caseload pressures and the need to annualize one-time programs; the agency proposed targeted reductions including refugee transitional housing and an education loan repayment program while saying $195 million in rural health transformation funds are available but not yet fully defined by CMS.
Jenny Samuelson, secretary for the Agency of Human Services, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 10 that the agency's FY2027 budget request totals $3.75 billion and represents a 6.1% increase in general-fund authority driven largely by caseload and utilization pressures and changes in federal matching rates.
"There were some hard I want to acknowledge there were some hard choices that we needed to make, but we feel like we really balanced what the needs were of Vermonters as well as our fiscal responsibility," Samuelson said, summarizing the leadership's year-long review of programs and prioritization process.
Why it matters: the request would preserve core services while shifting some one-time investments into base funding (shelter investments, pretrial supervision expansion, opioid recovery employment programs) and proposing eliminations or reductions to underused or duplicative efforts. Committee members questioned whether programs were cut solely because they were not statewide; Samuelson said the agency reviewed the reasons and made "case-by-case" decisions to avoid eliminating services that…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
