Montpelier
By killing the latest budget bill, Scott made good on his promise to reject the proposal if lawmakers didn’t make a further concession to ensure level property tax rates next year.
He also tied former Gov. Howard Dean for the record of most vetoes in single year, reaching 11 on Thursday night.
In his veto letter, Scott invited legislative leaders to try to override his veto, which is unlikely given that there are 53 Republicans and 7 independents in the 150-member Senate, more than enough to sustain a veto.
He said that if an override fails, there is still plenty of time to sit down and reach a deal before June 30, when the government would shut down.
“I’m confident with more focus — and an earnest commitment to meet in open session to discuss how we come to agreement — we can resolve the one remaining area of disagreement in a short amount of time,” the governor said.
Scott suggested an “easy solution,” revising the budget bill to prevent the possibility of a default tax rate increase.
“This would ensure we have a budget in place long before July 1 and require us to work together, on a level playing field, to resolve our remaining differences in the tax bill,” Scott said in his veto letter.
When that was proposed during debate over the bill in the Senate, however, Democrats said such a move would remove their only piece of leverage in negotiations with the governor.
The battered budget proposal, H.13, was pitched by legislators this month as a non-controversial bill that would ensure that Vermont has a budget at the beginning of the next fiscal year, even if lawmakers and the governor don’t fully resolved an impasse of property taxes in time.
The legislation incorporates most of the vetoed budget and tax bills that were passed last month with broad bipartisan support, while carving out provisions in the few areas in which Democratic lawmakers and the Republican governor disagree.
The bill doesn’t set tax rates, allocate surplus revenue or address education finance policy reforms, for example, and Democrats have sent letters to Scott promising to sit down for good faith negotiations in separate legislation — if he signed H.13.
Legislative leaders have said that their latest proposal represents significant compromise by effectively leveling residential property tax rates and setting aside the $34.5 million in surplus funds the governor wants to harness to buy down taxes next year.
Correction
There are 53 Republicans, 7 independents, 83 Democrats and 7 Progressives in the Vermont House, enough Republicans to sustain a veto from GOP Gov. Phil Scott. An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the party’s numbers in the chamber.