Mike Mrowicki has served since 2007 in the Vermont House of Representatives, where he represents Putney and Dummerston in the Windham-4 district.
PUTNEY-A dollar is a lot of money if you don't have it, my grandfather used to say. He was an immigrant who came to America right after the pandemic of the early 20th century - just in time for the Great Depression.
He knew hard times and the value of a dollar. He worked hard for what he earned as a butcher and, later, in a defense factory during World War II. He watched his dollars carefully, and kept two rubber bands wrapped around his wallet. Those rubber bands came off only when a very high bar was cleared to rationalize spending.
It's quite a stretch from him (and my other three grandparents) landing in America from Poland to my being elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. It's even a longer stretch now that I've been assigned to the House Appropriations Committee, where we metaphorically keep that rubber band wrapped around the wallet of the state, to be taken off only with necessity.
Anyone not feeling that their state dollars are being spent wisely should actually take a look at how stringently any expenditure is scrutinized. In our committee, every line item is parsed and explained by those requesting an expenditure.
We are not spendthrift, and we make only careful investments of your tax dollars, challenging every expense put before us and expecting the case be made before we open up the state's wallet.
If one disagrees about what we're spending those dollars on, that's another story. I can assure you, though, your tax dollars are not used on an expense without being poked, prodded, and looked at by every member of our committee. Then that expense has to be approved by a majority of the 150 House members. After that, it's sent to the Senate for the same level of scrutiny and back to the governor for his approval and signature.
There's nothing about that process that's quick, easy, or done without much thoughtful consideration and process.
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Recently, we've wrapped up work on the midyear budget adjustment. (We work on a fiscal calendar, July 1 to June 30.) We compare the proposals for this budget year to the actual expenses and adjust accordingly.
For example, nursing home usage is up, and we are moving dollars to cover those costs. We've spent money on flood damage repair and emergency housing. We are also putting funds into stockpiling birth control supplies, based on the threats to women's health care from the White House.
We can argue about whether you agree with those appropriations but they all go through the rigors of our representative democracy and all the votes that entails.
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We then jumped from the frying pan into the fire of the 2026 budget: the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, better known as the Big Bill.
We do so with every mindful thought of the planned chaos coming from the White House. As it was with Donald Trump's first term, it's hard to know from one day to the next what to expect, which is exactly the opposite of the kind of stability most businesses want for a business climate. Already we're seeing signs in the economy, such as 10-year Treasury bonds, that there is not great market confidence in the new regime's policies.
Back in Vermont, the governor's budget proposal has been submitted.
As we work to complete a year's worth of work in the 18 weeks of our Legislative session, Vermonters can know that their lawmakers heard loud and clear the message of austerity from voters in the 2024 Vermont election: Property tax hikes like the 14% we saw last year are unacceptable. (As are the increases that were higher, depending on your locale.)
The governor has set the goal of no increase in the state education tax rate, and we are clear that we're going to try to achieve that goal as we work with him.
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As one part of that equation, the governor's proposed reform of education governance has just been released. It proposes big changes, but it is not clear yet whether those changes will result in actual savings. We will look closely at his plan, though, and give it the consideration he asks.
The other part of that equation is how we fund education, and we are waiting for the governor's pIans.
As for the rest of the budget, I again want to reassure Vermonters that the House Appropriations Committee is exercising due diligence on your behalf. Your tax dollars are being scrutinized with great rigor.
Just as my grandfather understood, we know that a dollar is a lot of money if you don't have one, so we spend carefully.
This Voices Legislative Update was submitted to The Commons.
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