SmartTranscript of House Appropriations - 2025-02-18 - 10:35AM

[Chair Robin Scheu]: Good morning. This is the House of Dilipatians Committee. It is, Tuesday, February fifteenth twenty twenty five. It's almost ten forty, and, we're delighted to have with us the, secretary of the administration. Administration. So I'd like to call you that, Sarah Sarah Clark, who's here to, talk, to us sort of the whole notion of responding to changes in the federal government. We're seeing all kinds of different things happening, and I know that, Secretary, you are spending a lot of time thinking about this, so we need to also. Yes. I'm looking forward to this conversation. It's pretty informal, but great to have you here. Thank you. [Sarah Clark]: Thank you. I appreciate being invited to testify and that it's more of a dialogue because I think it's important that we all understand, what's happening at the federal level. And as part of that understanding that it seems to continuously shift, as I'm sure you've experienced the same as I over the last couple of weeks. And so the approach that the state administration is taking is really to carefully assess and monitor what is happening at the federal level, working to understand the facts, and not just reacting, as various directives or edicts are issued from the federal government. Because we saw, we've seen over the last couple of weeks, for example, when OMB, issued an order essentially stopping, pausing funding from all federal agencies, and very shortly that order was rescinded. And so, it's important to understand what's happening, but also being measured in our response and understanding what the actual facts are and how it will impact Vermont, before we react, which I think can be probably hard for all of us to do, but it's important, that we save our energy so that we're able to focus on the priorities that are really important to Vermont and Vermonters. Understanding that the federal government is our largest funding partner, and obviously play a really critical role in the important programs that we, administer here in Vermont. So we are tracking about forty five executive orders that have been issued. I'm sure you've read about them, and there are many of them on the White House website. And so we are tracking them, working with various partners, whether it's you know, national organizations or our own research and reconnaissance to understand what those impacts will have. The departments and agencies of state government are providing as they receive information from their federal funding partners, they are providing those updates to us on the fifth floor so that we can track and understand them before we react, if you will, because as we've seen, things do change sometimes quickly at the federal level. In a lot of ways, and it's not the right analogy, but from my office, we have kind of compared this to a federal shutdown. If you recall, we've been through several of those over time, and so I issued guidance from my office across state government to ensure that all agencies and departments are, up to date on all of their federal draws, which is the guidance that we normally issue if we're facing a federal shutdown, essentially, to make sure that we are drawing in all federal cash that's allowable, into our state coffers so that we're in the best position, to move forward if things change suddenly. And so that's the guidance that has been issued. It's pretty standard protocol. That's what departments and agencies. That's what their job is, is to make sure that they're timely on all their federal draws. But I think it's important to issue that reminder, to our departments and agencies so that they're doing that in a timely manner in accordance with our policy. [Chair Robin Scheu]: And so is most of your work, is it is it mostly reimbursable? So you pay it out first and then get money back. [Sarah Clark]: Is that I think in large part, but it really does depend upon the federal program, but in large part. And, you know, I thought it would be interesting, for for this committee to understand, like, one of our largest agencies as it relates to federal funds in all things is the agency of human services. Right. And so they, of course, have a pretty, I think, sophisticated, mechanism for how they handle federal federal dollars. And they just to give you, a point of reference, they draw down roughly a hundred and ten million dollars a month, so a hundred and ten million a month across a variety of programs, most notably the Medicaid program. But they are up to date and in compliance with their policies and state policies, but wanting to give you kind of a, a point of reference for the dollar amount that we're talking about on a monthly basis. The agency of human services, I think, being the largest recipient of federal dollars in state government. Not the only, but the largest. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Right. So that's over a billion a billion. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Yes. [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. It's a lot. A lot of money. The other thing, you know, there's been various news articles about organizations losing access to their the federal payment management system, which is the system where most programs draw down federal dollars. And so we're also tracking access issues when I think, an example that was in the paper, the Head Start programs or a few Head Start programs in Vermont that they did eventually receive their, funding from the federal government, but I think it was delayed. And so [Tiffany Bluemle]: it was causing some cash flow considerations. And so that's an example where the Agency of Human Services was in close communication with those organizations, and ultimately, the federal reimbursement did come in. But it's those issues that we're tracking at the Agency of Human Services. This is as of last week, but they have access to all of their federal reimbursement systems, if you will. And so we're trying to both monitor that we're on top of drawing down federal dollars, but making sure we have access to those systems. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Question, So [Trevor Squirrell]: they they were locked out of the system for a while and got were allowed back in? Is that how that worked? [Sarah Clark]: For Head Start? I'm not an expert in this area. I think they're they had actually anticipated payment that was several days late and that eventually occurred in that circumstance. [Trevor Squirrell]: Were there any systems that cross state government that that were locked out and then then got permission back and [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. I think there have been a few systems that access, like, right when OMB initially issued that guidance on federal dollars, pausing federal dollars, I believe some systems had technical issues, and agencies were temporarily unable to access. I think they were couched as technical issues, and, access has subsequently been restored. And I'm not aware of any issues as of right now in terms of access to systems. [Chair Robin Scheu]: But, Przanska, did you have a question? [Wayne LaRoche]: So just a couple of quick questions. Our typical access to the care system, you're tapping into your drawing money down. So AJAX or any other agencies or departments here, obviously, you make a request to draw down. Is there there's a time period, I suspect, in which the state receives that draw down? What's typical? And I'm asking that question just in the event, you know, things are changing perhaps [Tiffany Bluemle]: on a given day Yeah. [Wayne LaRoche]: Between your request to draw down versus actually receiving. [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. I think, again, it does depend on the program. But in the case of the agency of human services, I think the the timing of the receipt of the cash is pretty closely aligned with when they do the draw down. I think some programs can take longer because there's, you know, reporting that has to be filed associated with the drawdown. But there are, like, legal requirements by both the state and federal government that should be in compliance with. [Wayne LaRoche]: I was just curious about that Yeah. Good question. Right. Lines to Yeah. Needs to lay out for Yeah. Citizens here in Rome. [Sarah Clark]: Yep. Nope. It's an important question. I think the other thing that we're we're tracking at the national level, not necessarily within the executive branch, but what's happening in US Congress, I think in both in the house and senate where some key committees in the house, for example, have been given savings targets. And so, you know, this is kind of late breaking information, but they've been given some savings targets that will impact programs in Vermont, most notably Medicaid. I'm sure you've heard of this as well in terms of the federal government considering changes to our Medicaid program, which will really impact all states if they have to come from savings within the Medicaid program. And so that's something that we are also closely monitoring. That's not an executive order related, but it is at that kind of national level that will have significant impact on all states if they reduce funding. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Sarah, this may be premature to know, but when you say target reductions in Medicaid, are you talking about, like, the optional future experiences that states can offer or are you talking about, you know, across the board rate reductions, you know, for the federal match, but any intel or insight there? [Sarah Clark]: So it it really is, I'd say, more like kinda late breaking at the end of last week, and so don't necessarily have, like, a clear path or what they're gonna contemplate, but it could be things like implementing work requirements in the Medicaid program. It could be looking at optional services. It could be looking at the federal medical assistance percentage, FMAP, which is you know, the the FMAP is the rate at which the federal government matches states on our Medicaid spending. So it's important to understand none of this has happened yet. But when you talk about significant impact on states, these are the these are the things that we should all be monitoring together, as we move forward. [Tiffany Bluemle]: And you're talking about, through the budgeting process in Washington. [Sarah Clark]: Correct. That's correct. Yep. It's part, I think, of the house continuing resolution that they're that they're debating now, if you will. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Right. And we heard from Nolan that one point in a half half is eighteen million dollars. Yeah. Five percent. Yeah. So it's all Adds up quickly. Mhmm. It's good. So, [Steven]: kinda connected to the financial stuff, but, we were shared some of us were shared a memo from the school board associations where the federal administration was making rulings about in particular, they were removing some categories and classes from the federal discrimination classes, including transgender individuals. And the school board association issued and then retracted a memo that said, basically said that we are not, we are following the federal. We have to federal, follow the federal rules because they're giving us money in the face of our state discrimination practices, which have always been much more expansive than the federal. So that memo was retracted. I don't know whether that means that the agency of education is going to act with the fear of having those federal funds removed or not. But can you comment on how the state's gonna approach the differences between the connections, the sticks, if you will, of taking federal money, which we do because we have to, versus how we've, what we consider legal, practices that the federal government is now trying to say are, not acceptable. [Sarah Clark]: So I'm I'm not familiar with the specific letter, though I did read the news article that you referenced. But I think in general, and I'll just circle back to my opening remarks, our approach is to really Mhmm. Work to understand the facts of what's happening at the federal level before reacting. And I think part of that is understanding our grant agreements with the federal government, understanding that they're issuing some pretty broad executive orders that, on the surface, try to make things clear, but I think it gets a lot more complex when you go underneath the surface in terms of the impact on Vermont. And so looking at our specific grant agreements with the federal government and understanding what it's asking before we react. I think in Vermont as a state, we would probably all agree that our core values are diversity, equity, and inclusion regardless of what the federal government tells us, and you can see that in, some of the investments that we've collectively made with state dollars over the last several years and that we have no plan to alter from that as a core value, for the state of Vermont. [Steven]: I'm with May. [Sarah Clark]: Understanding limitations of our ability to replace federal dollars if in fact, at some point, federal dollars are, in jeopardy. And so I think you're hitting on a a really critical area that we've had some conversations about, but it's not really clear yet what those executive orders mean and the impact on them, in carrying out the core mission, the core goals of some of the programs that we do on behalf of the federal government. So we wanna understand the facts before we react to it. Also knowing we have invested state dollars in these same programs. The Office of Racial Equity, for example, is an office that was created, I think, really in collaboration, the executive and legislative branches that is funded for the most part all with state dollars. [Steven]: And I appreciate that. I just, you know, with the with the threats that unless I mean, I'm I don't wanna say trust and assume because I know it's a lot of work, but I imagine the job at at the administration level is to understand those grant programs and to say, well, Medicaid is cut by this many hundreds of dollars hundreds of millions of dollars. What does that mean in the immediate? So it sounds like it's really all hands on deck to try to understand what may happen at any given moment. [Sarah Clark]: It it is. It it really is. And it it does change, as you know, moment by moment, but just being measured so that we react appropriately when needed, but not when it's not needed yet. And so, because I think it is our job to run state government, and so we wanna make sure that we're doing that as effectively as possible and kind of minimizing the chaos, if you will. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Welcome. Thank you. [Mike Merwicki]: Thank you. Yeah. I I appreciate a measured approach just because everything is changing every minute. I am assuming that you're working collaboratively with other states, state administrations to compare notes, but also to, perhaps, advocate together [Tiffany Bluemle]: against [Sarah Clark]: potential cuts that you described. Yeah. That that is correct. We are working with other states and other national partners, if you will, to understand what's happening at the federal level and understanding the impact on all of the states so we can work together. Because, you know, med if if Medicaid has changed, that will impact every state. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Yes. Yeah. I'm also wondering, Sarah I'm sorry. Interrupting your remarks here. But so we've already seen there have been impacts related to USAID that affect Vermonters. Mhmm. The director of USDA Rural Development for New Hampshire Vermont was terminated last week. And as other people in that office, we use them sensibly through commerce and community development and the RDCs. So these sort of peripheral things are also impacting state government in certain ways. And I'm wondering if yours how you're sort of thinking about those things. Yeah. [Sarah Clark]: I mean, I think it it everything does continue to shift, and you list two really big examples of where we're seeing changes in federal staffing that will eventually and probably now impact Vermont in some way. And so I think it's part of what we're assessing and monitoring to understand how that will impact our day to day operations if, you know, federal staffing has changed in such a way that our ongoing daily operations are impacted. [Tiffany Bluemle]: So You may not know the answer to this, but do we have any idea how many federal workers live in Vermont work remotely, like, to an office in Washington. I I know my from personal experience, my daughter who works in Washington has lost a couple of employees because they are remote from other states and they can't transition to in person, you know, this week, next week, whatever that deadline is. [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. That's a great question. I don't I'm I'm sure someone knows the answer. I think it would be a interesting one to follow-up on. [Chair Robin Scheu]: I thought I read somewhere that we have something like it's either seventy five hundred or seventeen thousand five hundred. That might have been the higher number that work in Vermont. It's not all remote, but they may work for border patrol. They may work for the US Chamber. I mean, there's a whole lot of it was a bigger number than I expected it to at the federal level. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Right. But I don't have the other No. I and and I like I said, I wouldn't expect you to know, but it it is part of the impact. I mean, that's one of the things. Yeah. That's something sensitive. Yeah. I think I'm a robot. I could work for it. I mean, you could go to the National Park and work remotely through your down on Wall Street or wherever you were working. So [Sarah Clark]: And it is it's probably too soon for me to say this, but one of the kind of informal conversations we've had is if if we do have workers in Vermont that are not able to continue with their federal employment, it help us with some of our workforce challenges, you know, in state government or or more broadly? Yeah. Good morning. We could there could be and so that's, like, one of the things with all the action at the federal level is making sure we understand the facts, but some of it may actually benefit Vermont and and wanting to really understand before we just react. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Our ability to be be. Nimble. Correct. We're gonna have to react, but if we can react nimbly Yes. Seems like those opportunities Yes. Then we're gonna be in better shape. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Good question. [Wayne LaRoche]: I can just imagine too, you know, if there's an interruption, just straight communication Mhmm. Someone at the federal level that you're in either you or anyone else. Yeah. [Tiffany Bluemle]: State is in constant regular communication with with whatever it may be Yeah. Here. That alone could if that's the kind of things [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. And I think, because we have definitely, across state government, been having those communications with our federal partners. And I think, depending on which agency that federal partner works for, there could be not the greatest circumstances that they're facing on a federal level. And so I think it's important that we maintain communications and understand where our federal partners are coming from and what may be changing for them. [Chair Robin Scheu]: So I wonder, Sarah, we know that we don't know a lot. Right? And things can happen in town, but I'm wondering if you're talking to agency secretaries and you know, pick a pick a couple of, like, possible what if scenarios and think about how you would change your budget if, in fact, FMAP goes away or what you know, there's too many to name, but are are you helping them? [Sarah Clark]: Are they thinking about those things? Yeah. They they definitely are, and we are having those conversations so that we can kind of collectively stay on top of what may be shifting at the federal level. And, you know, this morning, I'm, you know, I'm here talking to you now about Medicaid, but that's follow-up to a conversation with secretary Samuelson. And so we are making sure we are communicating as a cabinet so that we can have the best collective information. [Mike Merwicki]: Well, I I'm just wondering since you used to staff this committee Yeah. Do you have any advice for for developing a budget, given all the uncertainties. [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. That's a that's a great question. And I think, you know, part of the communication that has happened at some level and should continue to happen is, I think, with my team and the joint fiscal office as you navigate this so that we're sharing information as as real time as we can so that they're informed to be able to inform you. I think as we look to the future and federal uncertainty, making sure that we're reserving as many dollars as we can to help mitigate potential impacts. You know, we we don't wanna be overreactive, but when we can be measured in terms of making a spending decision now versus later, maybe choosing the later, assuming that, further down the timeline, we we have more concrete information to inform our decisions. Don't wanna be overreactive, but we should just be thinking about what what may be coming our way. [Chair Robin Scheu]: And it's a great question. Good question. The good news is our reserves are in good shape Yes. We're statutorily at the cap with everything except the rainy day reserve, which we created on our own. It's not expiring it. Yeah. And we're close to the cap on that one. Yeah. So we are certainly paying attention to that. But I think that's a, you know, that's a good thinking to, you know, can it wait a year? Can it wait Yeah. Whatever before we do some of these things that [Sarah Clark]: Yeah. And we have a strong cash position as as you know. I'm sure you've talked to the treasurer recently as well, But that helps mitigate short term impacts. Right. [Chair Robin Scheu]: But we don't have a savings account of three point one billion bath filled No. [Sarah Clark]: All settled on. So we we do not. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Yeah. We have a shop. And three d printers, maybe that be even better. [Sarah Clark]: I think another example, the governor, established a decision support team. It's looking at tariffs. It's a multi agency effort to really, try to understand what's happening at the federal level, though that obviously keeps shifting with, you know, thirty day extensions for both Mexico and Canada. But that team across ACCD, public service, agriculture. I think I'm missing one agency, but understanding, like, what would the impact of those tariffs be doing the modeling? Maybe there are opportunities if tariffs are raised with our trading partners, but an example of trying to understand the impact, as things continue to shift. [Chair Robin Scheu]: But it seems like sort of that's one of the big ones. And the other big one, obviously, is the whole Medicaid and, you [Sarah Clark]: know, service. Those are kind of our Yeah. Yeah. And I I do think, you know, if you look at the executive orders, there's, like, the green energy, those types of investments, and some of the statements that have been made about that maybe pivoting from what was in the IJA and the IRA, those federal bills. Yeah. And so we're transportation. Exactly. And so we you know, it's staying on top of a lot, which is hard, but it it all continues to shift, so which I think is intentional. Yes. So [Chair Robin Scheu]: yeah. Any other questions from the committee? [Sarah Clark]: Committed to communicating with you as much as it's possible and as much as there's, useful information to share. [Chair Robin Scheu]: We appreciate that. I know that you're in contact with JFO, and, obviously, they're here a lot. Absolutely. So, yes, it's it's gonna require a team across all Yes. Bodies to make this as palatable as we can make it. Thank you for all you're doing. We appreciate you coming in and talking, Celeste. [Sarah Clark]: Thank you. My pleasure. Well, it's good to come back to this committee. If you have any time. It's wonderful. She would appreciate that. [Chair Robin Scheu]: I'm sorry. I'm looking for it for cheap. [Sarah Clark]: Spent a lot of time over there. [Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup]: That's right. [Tiffany Bluemle]: That's right. [Chair Robin Scheu]: So anyway, thank you very much, and I'm thrilled to see more of you. [Sarah Clark]: Thank you. Take care. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Thank you. So next up, we have have a delightful hour of four of our councils and orchestras and things like that. So the humanities council of the humanities. Come on up, Chris. Chris or Christopher? Christopher. Thanks. Okay. [Tiffany Bluemle]: And I think this is [Chair Robin Scheu]: your first time in our committee this year. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Yes. So we [Chair Robin Scheu]: do have a bunch of new members, so we can practice our introductions again. It's been [Tiffany Bluemle]: a little while. Dave? [Chair Robin Scheu]: Good morning. I'm Dave Iacoboni from Morrisville, and I represent [Tiffany Bluemle]: the Lemoille Washington District. Welcome. [Wayne LaRoche]: Thank you. Good morning and welcome. John Kosinski from Burke, and I represent the Essex Caledonia District. [Steven]: Steven from Waterbury representing the Washington Chittenden District. [Chair Robin Scheu]: This is Jim Harrison from Chittenden First. Town. Robin Shai from Millbury. Amy from Burlington, and [Mike Merwicki]: I apologize for that to me for a meeting. [Wayne LaRoche]: Tremor Squirrel, Underhill and Jericho. [Trevor Squirrell]: Yes. I'm Wayne LaRoche. I've got Sanhugate, Franklin, Richford, and Berkshire. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Morning. I'm Mike Merwicki, and I am Linda Ford. Let's put me in touch. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Lynn Dickinson, I represent Saint Albans Town, and I tune up to leave. That is [Mike Merwicki]: Lots of people coming and going. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Oh, good. Thank you. [Jim Harrison]: We will miss you, but we know your support. So thank you. I will try and keep it brief because I know we only have [Tiffany Bluemle]: an hour for all four of us. Yeah. [Jim Harrison]: Looking at the clock, I wish I could say that we will be entirely joyful, but we are facing the exact same things that Sarah just described for many of us. So I just wanna echo her. All of those concerns affect us as well. Vermont Humanities is about forty two percent federally funded right now. And our expectation is that we need to pay very, very close attention to what's happening in Washington. Again, my name is Christopher Kaufman Illustrup. I'm the executive director at Vermont Humanities. Always a delight to come to this committee. We are the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, DC, as well as the Library of Congress. So we we actually interact with two different branches of government in DC. Times are uncertain, of course. We remain grateful for all of you and for the state of Vermont, for supporting, the organization year over year. We're fifty years old, fifty one years old this year. And the legislature has supported us for many, many years actually going back to the Cunanan administration. Cultural organizations are frequently asked about their economic impact, so I brought in just a couple of numbers from Americans for the Arts, which I probably our our friends at the Arts Council will also talk about. There's about a hundred and sixty million dollars in change in cultural spending that happened in Vermont the last time they surveyed. It supported a twenty seven jobs in the state of mind health at my organization. [Chair Robin Scheu]: What is [830 seconds of silence] [Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup]: We were able to offer, in partnership with USDA Rural Development, free access to business training programs for artists through the Assets for Artists program. And we had over seventy six artists participate, and they overwhelmingly told us how valuable the service was to them. I mentioned that we only fund forty five percent of the grants that we receive. We know that in order for the creative sector to thrive, we really need artists and arts organizations to have the training and skills that they need to run their businesses as well. Christopher mentioned this in his comments as well and I'll say that another area of focus for us over the past few years since they have emergency response and emergency preparedness. We know this issue will continue to be vital throughout our state in the future. So the Vermont Arts Council are co leads of VACDARN, a great organization with a terrible acronym, the Vermont Arts and Culture Disaster and Resiliency Network. We co lead this along with the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration office in the Secretary of State's office. And Backfire is working to build the strength and resilience of Vermont's vital creative sector, cultural sector and offers trainings, support and direct assistance. So through the network, artists and cultural organizations work together to share experiences and resources, mobilize support for mutual assistance, and engage collectively with first responders and government emergency management agencies. So as you would imagine, right, if there's an emergency, the last thing you want is every artist in the state calling Vermont Emergency Management and asking questions all over the place. We know people have questions and the role of background is really to be the clearinghouse for that information in the times of an emergency. We've also been able to provide a lot of training and resources to help with emergency preparedness. Right? The better you are in an emergency, it means you were more prepared ahead of time. So this focus on emergency preparedness is something we're really continuing to do in the coming years. We've now had to do this two summers in a row in response to massive flooding. And I'll also mention that our offices on State Street right across the street were flooded in twenty twenty three and are still not occupiable. And that's been the only home of the Arts Council since we were opened in nineteen sixty five. So, the budget itself, the Vermont Arts Council, the good stuff. The Vermont Arts Council is actually the only state arts agency in the country that operates as an independent nonprofit. We're a quasi state agency. We were founded in statute in nineteen sixty five. It's our sixtieth birthday this year. And the Council receives the majority of its revenue from two sources, the National Endowment for the Arts and the State of Vermont. The NEA requires that state governments match the federal dollars allocated to state arts agencies dollar for dollar and our general fund out of the general fund and our general fund allocation therefore enables us to secure substantial federal funds that are distributed across the state. You have heard a lot in this committee just by walking around in the world that there is a lot in the air right now about federal funding. I'll say that six weeks ago we were advised by our NEA partners, that the amount that we would be receiving this year is one million seventy one thousand eight hundred dollars We are moving forward as if that is the case, and that will require a state match of that same amount. And when any dollar that is not matched is a federal dollar that we don't get, meaning that it's it's really double the impact for Vermonters. We're currently in the governor's budget for one million three thousand dollars which was three percent over last year's amount. And we're we're requesting that we match the full amount. I am do you wanna be very transparent about the amount that we need, and we are have a lot of calls and emails out to our partners to try to get some clarity around that. Usually, what they don't give out those amounts until April, but usually, we've been able to get kind of a heads up from them, and that's what we're hoping this year too. [Chair Robin Scheu]: And this happens every year. It does. Yes. We try to fund. We'll see what happens. But this is not [Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup]: unusual. Exactly. I will say in the in the terms of what is unusual, if there is a substantial diminishment to our federal award for whatever reason, we are we would look to the state to continue stable funding at least and really move away from that dollar for dollar requirement and instead look at investing in the Arts Council at the need, the need that is across the state and how we can serve it. So we hope, as I said, to have more information about that in the in the next couple of weeks, we think. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Okay. And if it's April, then it'll be in the senate. Yes. Exactly. At that point. Tom, did you have a question? [Steven]: Just another thank you for the work that you bring to the state. Just wanna have more of a comment. I'll leave the questions for for later. And I think, Wayne, you have this in here. Is it it looks very impressive to say that we bring that artists bring one point two billion dollars to Vermont's economy and you kind of broke it down a little bit. I also just wanna state that that doesn't necessarily go all the way down to the artists themselves. And so the support that we're able that the agency is able to give to artists, how often are we asked that artists perform, sell your CDs at the restaurant and perform for free. And, you know, the classic response is come to my house and cook dinner for free and leave a menu. But I just wanna I just wanna thank you for why you can't pay artists nearly enough from your agency's perspective, I appreciate the work that it does that then reflects into the one point two billion dollars to the overall economy. The the idea of what the arts brings is a little it it doesn't like, it doesn't go all the way down. So, thank you for your work. Thanks for doing that. [Jim Harrison]: Absolutely. [Trevor Squirrell]: And if you do hear more from the from the fence, let me know as I'm here on email. I'll make everybody sound [Tiffany Bluemle]: Thank you. Now. Thank you for taking care of it. Thank you. [Mike Merwicki]: Thank you very much. Thanks, everyone. [Chair Robin Scheu]: It's nice to hear from all the cultural groups. Who have we got next? Symphony Orchestra. [Elise Brunel]: Okay. I think I was the one who had the Zoom [Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup]: Oh, I know that tragedy. [Chair Robin Scheu]: We never never quite know. And it it's you can't be sneaky about it because that's what happened. That's that's alright. We got it figured out. So [Trevor Squirrell]: I was told we just he was supposed to bring a fiddle. [Mike Merwicki]: Oh, no. [Trevor Squirrell]: I was [Chair Robin Scheu]: supposed to bring a fiddle. [Sarah Clark]: I don't think you bring a banjo there. [Chair Robin Scheu]: There's a Maybe the two of you could do something. [Elise Brunel]: Here we go. Conference [Steven]: last week, your [Tiffany Bluemle]: budget request. So so [Chair Robin Scheu]: why don't you introduce yourself for the record, Lisa? Sure. Yourself. Hello, everybody. [Elise Brunel]: Nice to see you today. My name is Elise Brunel. I'm the executive director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. I live in Grand Isle, and I've been here since twenty twenty. So that is my history, and I'm trying to figure out how to share my screen. I would hit share. There we go. Hold on a moment. Let me just see if I can. Not as prepared with this as I thought. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Do you have a copy of your [Elise Brunel]: No. We don't. It's but let me just see if I can open it now. There's no there we go. There's no information that isn't There. In, what I've already given. It's just sort of a console consultation of it. So if you don't mind, I'll Go ahead. Just run through this. Thank you so much. So I'm hoping you can all see this. That's your VSL, your Vermont Symphony Orchestra. We are the only statewide orchestra and chorus that operates year round. We have altogether fifty four union musicians. We have eighty volunteer chorus, four full time and two part time staff. That's what we are. This is a brief overlook at our our mission and our strategic plan, which guides the decision making behind what we can do to create music around the state. Just keep going a little bit here. What we do. So a little over forty concerts a year, about fifty educational events around the state each year, altogether reaching around twenty thousand people and, across the state. I think Christopher mentioned earlier on talking about the economic impact. One of the key things here is that the money primarily goes back to people. We are people. This is what the money funds. And it's around one point seven for arts practitioners. That's musicians and that's lighting designers, and that's the tech crew guy, and that's our accountant, as well as the businesses. So I think about the lighting and sound company down in Clarendon. I think you know, Clarendon, I think about, the small newspapers up in Barton Chronicle. I think about the hotel in Barrie, a whole bunch of different businesses that we provide money to. They provide us services so that we can create great musical events around the state. Here's a quick look at where we're going to be in f y f y twenty five, where we have we kind of cross over financial years a little bit, but the point to say that we do our very best to be as statewide as we can, everything from an ADP's orchestra down to a trio, education as well as concerts. Here's a quick look at some education programs. Music in schools is probably our our most well known. If you've got anybody in a family who's in a in a elementary school, they might wanna see the brass trio or woodwind trio or strings trio come in and show kids what those instruments do and how to create music with it and teach them a little bit about, about how also how it connects to some STEM principles. So we've been talking a lot about how science and music can work together. That's the Musicians in Schools program. In addition, we have a a musical petting zoo where kids can play musical instruments on a summer tour. We work a lot with young composers, so kids learn how to write music for instruments. It's amazing. You think, oh, I want to learn how to write for a trumpet. Well, you should probably know how a trumpet sounds and what it can do. So a lot of the work is teaching kids what the various instruments are and they can write music for that. We have a Jisco Box kids quartet. Those are for little kids learning how to explore emotions through music that shows around the state. And we also work side by side with the Vermont Youth Orchestra. That's a different organization, but they have a lot of high schoolers. They have about three hundred kids, and they come and sit in with us in concerts, so that we can give some of their senior level members a chance to kind of have a little professional experience before they move on. Serving the state, a couple of things that I wanted to point out. Food shelf, every year we fundraise not with fundraise, we ask our audiences to bring us anywhere between seven hundred and a thousand pounds worth of food that gets donated to local food shelves. We do free tickets throughout the year. You can see with a variety of organizations, Institute Orchestra for Mental Health, Vermont National Guard, students get free or ten dollar tickets. And then we also have a whole variety of food concerts during the course of the year around the state. That's a picture up. It's in St. John's Square. I think we were at the Fairbanks Museum doing a concert up there focused on science and music. Partners. Couldn't do it without our partners. It's it's to me, these logos come and show how integrated we are to be statewide. We couldn't go down to Bennington if we weren't in the to a museum. We couldn't create, a sort of a a career enhancement program for college kids in media if we weren't with Champlain College. We're doing concert with them at Beta Technologies. We wouldn't have holiday pops if we weren't at Berry Opera House. So there are so many different venues, education and arts organizations that we partner with, throughout the year. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Sorry. I I have to go to another meeting. Rep Harrison is taking over. Alright. You're in good hands. [Elise Brunel]: Steve, I I hope we have a couple of people up here. Let me talk a little bit about budget. So, it's a three percent increase in last year. So that's one hundred and fifty four thousand one hundred and seventy. That equals to how much is that? Well, altogether our tax sourced grant, so that is NEA, Arts Council, Humanities and State is about eight percent of our overall budget. We draw about fifteen percent of our budget from our endowment, which is higher than we want. We sell thirty five percent. Box office is around thirty five percent of our income, which is about ten percent higher than your average orchestra. Normally, earned income ticket sales is around twenty five to thirty percent. And then donations and grants. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Basically, it's not here, Tom. [Jim Harrison]: That Representative Lewis? I can wait to check that. Okay. [Tiffany Bluemle]: I have a question. When you pay from your endowment, are you spending principal from your endowment or are you spending the interest earned on your endowment? And how large is your endowment? [Elise Brunel]: Our endowment right now is just shy of six million. Our fiscal policy is a four percent draw. We've been having to draw up to a seven percent draw over the last couple years as the COVID money ran out, trying to right size, you know, an expensive organization with a lot of people in it. So I've been trying to find that additional funds to replace the COVID money that's come from our endowment. We're coming to a point next year where the board will revert to a four percent draw, so that'll be a drop of about two hundred thousand dollars from our operations. [Tiffany Bluemle]: So I'm looking at the other part of the chart. We're gonna talk about donations and grants. Yes. Where does the state grant show up? Is it in that section of the circle? [Elise Brunel]: It's under the tax grants. Right. So if if I look at what we get from tax sources, a hundred and fifty from the state, another forty or so from local organizations. NEA gives us twenty five thousand dollars which I haven't gotten yet, even though we and I don't know if I'm going to get it. That is eight percent of our overall. Where I'm my biggest concern, our box office has gone up significantly. There's a lot more people coming to buy tickets to see the the the shows that we do, which is great news. It's donations and grants. People are simply contributing less, especially corporates. Corporate sponsorship, which used to be a bedrock of a lot of arts and culture things, is seeing a steep decline. So I'm that's where I'm quite worried over there. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Thank you. [Elise Brunel]: Sure. If you go to expenses, artistic production, salaries and benefits, that's by and large people. Again, technicians, musicians, all of that. General operations, that's our, you know, our office and marketing a little bit. So that's a general look at how and where we spend money. It's important for me to put us in the context of other orchestras around the state. Not sorry. Not around the state. There aren't other orchestras, but nationally. It it's interesting. Salaries and benefits for administrative staff is generally up closer to forty percent to fifty percent. So we are really, really lean in terms of the people who do the work. I want to spend more money paying musicians to create music and teach. And so we're really happy on that side, which I think is the appropriate thing to do. But as any any sponsored thing, whether or not that's sports, whether or not that's agriculture, arts and culture, whatever it is, it really does rely so strongly on on sponsorships and support. That's us, and there we were at Castleton last summer for the first time, added a show because there was demand to have a summer tour out there. So that's the Vermont Symphony Works, Trent, and I thank you so much for your time. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Great. Representative Roche and then representative Klacenta. [Trevor Squirrell]: You you mentioned, poundage for, food. Yes. [Wayne LaRoche]: I didn't catch it. Sorry. [Elise Brunel]: So we have a holiday pox program. In December, we go to Barrie, Burlington, and Rutland. And each time we, do a a push for audience members to bring, donations for the food shelf, we have a raffle behind that. And it generally brings in about a thousand pounds total of food donated food because we figure we've got wonderful, generous audience, and they always rise to that occasion. So I wanna make sure we can leverage when we have a lot of people coming in the door. We leverage that to support the local community in different ways. Yep. [Wayne LaRoche]: As you're so thank you so much for your your providing here for this day too. So as you're reaching out for grants here, there's a lot more competition, I suspect, for those from nonprofits. Do you have a sense of what your competition might be in terms of securing grants? Sounds like some maybe some task donors maybe, and therefore, they're reducing their [Elise Brunel]: Right. Right. [Wayne LaRoche]: Their levels of things here, but with grants in particular here. [Elise Brunel]: With grants, do you do you mean in terms of, like, corporate sponsorships or foundation grants? Foundation [Chair Robin Scheu]: grants. [Elise Brunel]: Foundation grants. We're finding some of them are closing. They're shutting it down. [Tiffany Bluemle]: They're coming to an end. [Elise Brunel]: They're just coming to an end, and they're not being so replaced to other ones. Also, Vermont itself simply doesn't have as many available. So we tap into quite a lot of Vermont Community Foundation grants. I think we're the recipient of four of them, kind of maxed out Okay. If you know what I mean. So yes. [Sarah Clark]: So another thing sorry. I I wanted [Elise Brunel]: to mention it in the proposal I sent through. I I do my best to try to find money from outside of Vermont to bring it into Vermont. It's important to take national foundations and national corporates and try to get those dollars into this state. So Thank you. We're not sure. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Any other yes. Just Mister Stevens? Again, thank you [Steven]: for the for bringing the arts around the state the way that you have done for so many years. I just as a grant maker and if you're finding that businesses are not or corporations are not as generous as they were in the past, have they given an indication why that is in terms of especially the larger ones and in terms of the way wealth has been built up for corporations while individual ones make then there's just a way it just strikes me as odd that there may be more wealth available at those highest of levels, those corporate givers, but they're they're are they keeping more elsewhere? Do they ever tell you why they reduce their funds? I usually I don't think that's probably the answer. But [Elise Brunel]: I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I think what we're missing is the person that will say, yes. I'll open the door for the conversation with the decision makers. So we're getting stopped. TD Bank, so, for example, they used to sponsor a summer festival tour to the tune of thirty thousand dollars and they stopped. And I got the line of just word you know, the usual wording, we're not sponsoring it again, but I'm unable to get to the person who can tell me why. And sometimes we're missing that. I don't know if they're moving that money elsewhere, but I think your question is one of our biggest one. Why? Is it that they are moving elsewhere, they have less money? We're not sure, and I need to pick it that one. Because I I don't think we haven't changed the market. If they wanna put their their branding on something that's gonna attract people to their business, I'm not worried that we can provide that. I mean, that's, again, corporate sponsorship as opposed to philanthropic. There's two different areas that we rely on, but I don't know. I have asked, three or four of other like sized nonprofits in the area and asked them about their corporate sponsorship, and they say it's either holding or going slightly down, specifically in corporate. [Wayne LaRoche]: So [Tiffany Bluemle]: Thank you. Yeah? I commend you, Elise, for the expansion of the number of types of programs that the Vermont Symphony, you know, whether it's the jukebox series or others, and I think that all bodes well for a bright future. Wish I could help you get there financially sometimes, but it it it's it's becoming a bigger, bigger part of the Vermont scene. So congratulations. Thank you. [Elise Brunel]: I hope people bought a ticket to Grace Potter because that's so loud. [Tiffany Bluemle]: I mean [Elise Brunel]: Thank you so much. Thank you. Anything else? [Jim Harrison]: Thank you. [Elise Brunel]: Alright. Appreciate it. Thank you. [Tiffany Bluemle]: And Steve? [Trevor Squirrell]: Just to press it just to preface this, his father and I were freshmen at the University of Maine in nineteen sixty eight in the wildest dormitory on campus. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Are you sure you want to share that? [Steven]: That's kind of a historical statement. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Yeah. Yeah. Historical statement. [Steven Perkins]: The small world. Well, we're we're in Vermont. So, Steven Perkins. I'm the executive director of the Vermont Historical Society. I have Jennifer Blair, who is our director of finance and operations, with me. I'm gonna be away for a little bit, in the next few weeks. So I just wanted to introduce her in case there were any questions in the in the very short term that we can answer. She's also much better versed in the details of our budget if we go there. I'm going to try something today. We'll I'll talk a little bit about the society, the budget that as submitted, and then I have a short video that our staff put together this past fall that dives into our new strategic plan that will talk about our programs, what we're doing going forward, and some of the results. So it's a little bit backwards and we'll see if technology allows me to show that video. So I'll just start off with a bit of an introduction. I know we have some new members of the committee, so I always get tapped to talk about the history of the Vermont Historical Society, but we were chartered way back in eighteen thirty eight. We are similar to the Arts Council and a kind of a quasi state agency or organization, and there's a number of statutes that govern what we do and how we operate. You can find most of them in chapter twenty two, and it's in the materials that we sent out. So you can look those up. Some of the salient ones that impact certainly budget construction for us and for speaking with you are the statutes that reference our employers, our employees, and that all VHS employees have to be treated as if they were state employees. Unfortunately, that is the statute. So it's a little vague, but all of our employees are classified and receive all the benefits and everything that state employees do. And then there is a separate statute saying that our employees must be part of the state pension system. So when we talk about what are budgetary pressures on the society, a lot of them are around that the personnel and they're the exact same pressures you'll hear from the governor's office about state employees. And you can see those in the condensed budget that we submitted. So those are the custom of the realities of creating a budget around what we do. But what do we do? We're the State Historical Society of Vermont. We operate a museum on behalf of the state of Vermont. We were the de facto state archives for about a hundred years. We hold the state's collection, and we do those in two locations. We do them, here at the Vermont History Museum next door at the Pavilion. Please come visit, and at the Vermont History Center in Berry, which is the old Spalding High School, eighteen ninety two, then expanded in nineteen oh four building. Our building in Berry also houses the state library and the office and collections of the state archaeologist. So really a kind of a great research center there. So we collect. That's one half of what we do. We have a museum. We have a large collection. We just opened a brand new research and exhibition gallery in Barrie, which again, I encourage you to come take a look at, which brings more of our collections to the public, allows people to research them. And of course, an extensive research library and archive on that location as well. The museum, as I said, over here in Montpelier, we just wrapped up For the Love of Vermont, an exhibit which is being traveled by Lyman Orton at some of his personal collection of Vermont artwork. And it was a wonderful show for us to shoehorn into the little museum here in Montpelier, and we almost doubled our our visitation and revenue, walk in revenue in that location with that show. That's half of our operation. Of course, I'm glossing over lots of things, publications and journals and whatnot. The other half is our outreach and the support that we offer around the state, and that's split almost evenly between our educational programming and our support for local societies. So our educators provide programs both here in the museum in Montpelier in conjunction with the Sergeant at Arms office and the State House. We also provide outreach curriculum development and programs. The biggest of which is Vermont History Day, where we have, I don't know how many have registered this year, but close to four hundred students last year, participating from all over the state. And we look to see that grow, students reflecting on what history means to them. There's a theme every year, and they do everything from exhibits to speeches, to websites, to film. And then we send, the top students down to Washington to compete in National History Day. And it's a great program for Vermont schools and for Vermont students and we continue to see that grow every year. On the outreach side of things, we support the roughly I'd say average two hundred, one hundred and ninety one historical societies to be precise, that are incorporated in the state of Vermont as well as a number of small museums and we provide workshops, we provide an annual conference mentorship program, part of the Actharan, organization and, that is ongoing. In fact, there is a online, roundtable at lunchtime today. If you care to tune in about presenting objects to the public, how to write a good label, how to put them put objects in in cases. So sometimes it's really hands on, other times it's it's bigger concepts like fundraising or good governance, helping them write bylaws that that sort of work. So that's the general work of what the society does. This year, our budgets, the governor has recommended a five point nine percent increase in the appropriation, and we're very happy with that. I think a lot driven by those personnel cost drivers that I talked about earlier. And then also to know that that total number that you see, this is where it gets confusing and we went very deep on this last year. That's because we maintain the museum here in Montpelier on behalf of the state, there's a state fee for service or fee for space applied to the pavilion building. That number goes up and down usually up every year. And so we never know what that is until the very end. The governor's office has been very good at just is. And, but it has to be included in the appropriation to us, but it just goes back into the BPS, the copper. So it's not really a lease. It's the beaver for space and it's a kind of a moving target floating number. So that that's included in the appropriation. I'll pause there and answer any questions to leave time for it to try this film. How long is the film? Six minutes. No questions. Just questions. Just Alright. [Speaker 11 ]: Or you [Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup]: can just try to share, or did you want me [Steven Perkins]: it may be better if you do, and I can just shut this thing down. Okay. I [Elise Brunel]: need to try. [Steven Perkins]: I did learn a lot about the CCC in Mendon. Thank you, [Tiffany Bluemle]: Jim. Thank you. Good. While while we're waiting, representative, she'd be just I think we're ready to go. [Steven Perkins]: It totally doesn't work. We'll make sure you get the link that [Wayne LaRoche]: says link. Yeah. [Tiffany Bluemle]: This your budget liaison is representative Roche, and it it goes, I think, also for the other folks that we heard today. All all for do you? Alright. Well, you play the banjo, so you're [Jim Harrison]: I don't know. [Steven Perkins]: I was gonna have to follow a cellist or something today. So I [Elise Brunel]: didn't cheat by that. [Chair Robin Scheu]: Sorry. You got it over for a while. [Steven Perkins]: All of our activities at the Vermont Historical Society are in service to our mission. We believe that understanding the past changes lives and builds better communities. Our purpose is to engage Vermonters and Vermonters at heart with outstanding collections, statewide outreach, and dynamic programming. [Speaker 11 ]: VHS knows that connected communities start with the youngest Vermonter. Each year, we partner with educators to support young historians as they compete in Vermont History Day. The winners go on to compete in National History Day near our nation's capital. In the coming years, we will continue to work to expand participation in Vermont History Day to underrepresented schools and populations, centering equity of access in our efforts. [Speaker 12 ]: Vermont educators share our goal helping their students learn about Vermont's history so that they will understand its place in the broader world. Our history kits and the Vermont History Explorer platform provide educators with rich curricular materials for students of all ages. We're excited to welcome hundreds of Vermont school children to the Vermont History Museum each year, almost as excited as the students are. [Speaker 13 ]: We are committed to access and learning for Vermonters of all ages. Twenty twenty four has been an incredibly busy year as we've been preparing to open our new open storage space at the Vermont History Center, the Research and Exhibition Gallery. This project is the culmination of years of work. And in this space, scholars of Vermont history, from the amateur to the professional, can come engage with items from our outstanding collections. The drawers, shelves, and all displays will open to everyone who wants a deeper dive into the history of our state. [Sarah Clark]: We're now four years into a museum collections historical societies and museums around the state, as well as other sites, are available to all researchers everywhere. [Speaker 14 ]: Our local historical societies and museums are invaluable partners in preserving Vermont's history. We support their work through workshops, conferences, and guest exhibitions in our museum. As we prepare for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our nation, we are providing grants for our local historical societies so that they can mark the semi quincentennial in their towns. [Speaker 15 ]: To build connected communities, VHS needs to go out into the community. For our annual program, Vermont Eats, we partner with community groups and invite participants to experience the history of Vermont's immigrants in an age old way of building community, breaking bread. Vermont Eats celebrates how immigrants have enriched our economic, civic, and cultural lives and our culinary experiences. [Speaker 16 ]: Becoming a member of Vermont Historical Society means you are part of our work. You are joining our community of people committed to preserving and exploring Vermont's rich history. You may use your free admission to the museum and the library, or log on to our virtual programs, or attend in person events. However you access our resources, by becoming a member, you have prioritized preserving Vermont's history and providing access to our collections. [Speaker 17 ]: The Vermont History Museum in Montpelier welcomes thousands of visitors each year. Guests from all around the country and the world get an overview of Vermont's history, in addition to our in-depth rotating exhibits. Whether you are from Washington County or Washington State, from Springfield, Vermont, or one of the other sixty six Springfields across the United States, visiting the Vermont History Museum connects you to our work and makes you a Vermonter at heart. [Steven Perkins]: Through sharing collective stories, Vermonters of all ages and locations increase their knowledge of our state's complex past and inform our present. Our volunteers, members, partners, visitors, scholars, educators, and students are all a part of our work. Each day, we strive to understand how our unique experiences impact and shape this ongoing narrative. A little jumpy if you want to watch it more smoothly you could watch the well [Steven]: it makes [Steven Perkins]: sense. To get an idea. [Steven]: From the early twentieth century. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Great. Committee, any other questions? [Trevor Squirrell]: Looks like you didn't get the last card amount over there, Mount. [Steven Perkins]: We do. Well, there are some who say no, but we have the last document that Last Yeah. Last last known. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Was the one in Barnard? Yep. [Steven]: Natural death. [Jim Harrison]: You know? [Steven Perkins]: Most of them words, unfortunately. No. Yep. Yep. [Tiffany Bluemle]: Thank you very much. Thank you all for taking the time. I know the schedule is a little crunch. Last year, we had the luxury of spending a Monday afternoon in having our own private channel, But we really appreciated them, but but I'm being what it is, and we're we're a little bit fresh. So thank you all. If there are any questions, follow-up questions, we'll go through representative La Roche and get back to you for a minute for answers. So thank you. Thank you. Committee, we're on a break for lunch. We're back at one o'clock, and I think [Steven]: it's your administration.

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SmartTranscript of House Appropriations - 2025-02-18 - 10:35AM

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