By Guy Page
With the polls opening less than 24 hours hence, “affordability” has been a recurring campaign slogan among both incumbents and challengers alike. But just how affordable is Vermont? VDC provides this brief overview on trending affordability of taxes, healthcare, energy, food, disposable income and housing.
School taxes up by double-digits this year, next year
- This year Vermonters are paying for unprecedented school spending with a state-average 14.5 % property tax increase PLUS two new taxes on short term rentals and software purchase. They’re looking at double-digit increase next year as well, Gov. Scott predicts.
- Vermont’s aging school buildings will require $6 billion to renovate the salvageable and rebuild the not-worth-salvaging.
How can we fix it? A new state study says bigger schools will both save money and improve student learning outcomes. The governor has strongly hinted he wants the state to head in that direction. But in many rural school districts, parents don’t want consolidation.
Healthcare costs ‘worst in country’
Analysts who published a state mandated report on health care costs said this summer ‘Vermont has the ‘worst health care costs in the country.’ that the average lowest-cost Silver-level premium health insurance plan in Vermont is over twice as much as the national average, and that health insurance rates next year will climb more than 20% if action is not taken.
How can we fix it? At least three ideas have been floated –
- As with school spending, state-hired consultants are recommending consolidation: state-imposed drastic cost-saving changes such as the virtual closure of rural hospitals.
- The Green Mountain Care Board has ruled that Vermont’s biggest hospital network overbilled insurers and ordered reduced insurance receipts. UVMMC has promised to fight the order, saying that the billings were necessary to provide adequate care and that hospital still lost money.
- The Vermont State Employees’ Association (VSEA) recently argued for a Medicare-style of pricing services to be imposed on hospitals. “To put an end to unreasonable hospital prices and protect our health benefits, we need to implement reference-based pricing (RBP) during the next legislative session. VSEA and VT-NEA, in concert with allies, will ask the legislature in 2025 to establish a new and fairer methodology for setting hospital prices, using Medicare rates as a benchmark.”
Reference-based pricing in Oregon that sets billing at 200% of Medicare rates is working well, VSEA asserts.
Food inflation second-highest in nation
A Consumer Affairs study found that as of November of last year, Vermont’s food inflation rate was 7%, second highest in the nation, after Pennsylvania. According to Forbes, Vermont food prices are 14th highest in the nation.
Electricity price 10th highest in nation
Vermonters pay an average of 17.53 cents retail for a kilowatt-hour of electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That rate will face upward pressure in the coming decade as the $10 billion Renewable Energy Standard of 2024 replaces lower-cost fossil fuels with higher-cost instate renewable power.
Heating oil down from 2022, up from 2020
A gallon of heating oil cost 3.59 gallons in October of this year, compared to $2.04 four years ago. Where it goes next is anyone’s guess – petroleum pricing has been boom and bust ever since the first oil strikes in western Pennsylvania and the organization of the industry by the likes of John D. Rockefeller.
Disposable income 40th in nation
Vermont is in the bottom 20% in disposable income – the money that’s ‘left over’ after necessary living expenses (yearly expenses for housing, healthcare, taxes, food and transportation) are paid. Our average Cost of Living is $43,927 per person, 15th highest in the nation. Our average ‘disposable income’ is $18,848, according to a Forbes survey.
19th highest in home purchasing costsThe median home purchased in Vermont costs $ 380,266, with an average monthly mortgage payment of $2,272, Forbes reported.
By tomorrow night, we’ll know whether affordability was a compelling concern for a critical mass of Vermont voters. Tune in to VDC-TV Election Night Coverage at 8 PM on YouTube, Facebook and X.