BRATTLEBORO — Montpelier will turn its eyes on Windham County for an unprecedented second time within one year.
Last year, the Senate Committee on Economic Development, General & Military Affairs held a hearing in Brattleboro to hear testimony on the potential economic ramifications of Vermont Yankee's eventual departure.
Committee members Sens. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, and Peter Galbraith, D-Windham, will return for a follow-up hearing at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center (VABEC), on Friday, March 30 at 9 a.m.
Galbraith described Friday's hearing as an opportunity to look at the big picture of the county's economic health and solicit ideas from the community.
“We've got the focus [from Montpelier] it's important to sustain the momentum,” Galbraith said.
“Your ideas and your input are important in this process,” wrote Illuzzi in a press release. “What plan might you have for economic development in the Windham region?”
In response to testimony gathered at last year's hearing, Illuzzi and Galbraith co-sponsored a bill that earmarked $57,500 for post-Vermont Yankee economic planning by the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategy (SeVEDS) group.
According to Galbraith, the Legislature is considering additional funding for the county. Rep. Oliver Olsen, R-Jamaica, has helped put before the House $1.5 million to continue economic development in Windham County. Galbraith has pledged to support the earmark if it makes it through the House to the Senate.
The $1.5 million would come from taxes paid by Vermont Yankee after 2012 as suggested in a recent report by the Post-VY task force, said Galbraith.
In its report, the task force pointed out that since the state expected VY to close after March 21, 2012, when its state-issued Certificate of Public Good expired, taxes paid by the plant's owner Entergy after the date would take the form or a surplus.
Windham County has experienced, for almost 20 years, an economic recession. On average, the county's wages are the lowest statewide. In Galbraith's opinion, the county needs to take action and prepare for a long haul to reverse its declining economic health.
“[Funding and strategies] are the only was we can address our county that lags behind our neighbors,” he said. “There is not short-term solution.”
If you would like to submit written testimony, please e-mail it to Sen. Illuzzi at [email protected] and Sen. Galbraith [email protected]; or mail to: Roman Kokodyniak, Legislative Council, Statehouse, Montpelier, VT 05602. VABEC is located at 8 University Way, off Old Guilford Road.
Committee members will also tour the TriPark Cooperative Mobile Home Park in West Brattleboro and meet with residents about the Committee's legislative mobile home park initiative (S. 99), as well as visit the Town of Wilmington to assess recovery efforts from the tropical storm.