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Family firms and timber framers urge stronger links to CTE, easier permitting and financing for green projects
Summary
Owners of Built by Newport, Vermont Frames and other small manufacturers told lawmakers new technology and career-technical partnerships have helped them survive but cumulative costs, permitting delays and land constraints limit growth; several asked support for PACE financing and repeal or extension of incentive sunsets such as S.327.
Small, family-owned manufacturers and timber framers told a joint Senate-House hearing that technology, career-and-technical education and internal training have strengthened operations, but rising fixed costs, permitting delays and land limitations make expansion difficult.
Dave Leforce and Julie Lefors of Built by Newport described shifting from a glider-rocker business to a multi-line furniture maker and said CNC investment and in-house software development improved safety, quality and pay. "Technology made our facility much safer... it's really elevated our business," Lefors said, adding that partnerships with local career centers and apprenticeship programs have been a steady source of hires.
Leforce and Lefors described specific cost pressures: higher property taxes, energy and insurance costs, the recently enacted child care tax, and local stormwater and three-acre rules that can trigger substantial compliance costs or penalties (one speaker estimated a potential penalty of about $50,000 in a site case). They said cumulative fixed costs can make otherwise sound projects uneconomic for small firms.
Kevin Moyer of Vermont Frames described his timber-frame and structural insulated panel business, urged support for S.313 to bolster career-technical education, and cited PACE (commercial/industrial clean-energy financing) as critical for projects such as solar-plus-storage that he could not afford without assistance. He cited a prior solar-and-battery project that would have cost roughly $125,000 and said such costs deter small-business investment.
Speakers asked committees to consider permitting streamlining, targeted equipment grants, and stronger outreach so small businesses can find available state resources. Committee members acknowledged the need to coordinate programs and to improve communications with firms at different stages of development.
The hearing recorded no formal votes; presenters asked the committees to preserve apprenticeship and CTE supports and to examine cumulative cost impacts when drafting environmental or labor-related rules.
