Take two minutes to learn how Vermont businesses are doing now that pandemic restrictions are lifted, and what they still need to recover.
You can connect with our President Betsy Bishop at bbishop@vtchamber.com.
RECENT NEWS
This month, in partnership with Vermont Business Magazine and Best Companies Group, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce revealed 2021’s Best Places to Work in Vermont.
Companies from across the state entered a two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Vermont. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final rankings. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Vermont and analyzed the data, using their expertise to determine the final rankings. View the full list of the 50 Best Places to Work here.
The Vermont Chamber analyzed employee survey responses to pull enlightening statistics and fun ideas shared by winning organizations. See them collected below or in a visual summary in this infographic. We hope these ideas and statistics inspire you in your own workplace:
Statistics Among Winning Organizations
Fun Ideas for Wellness and Fitness
Fun Ideas for Office Environments and Workplaces
Fun Ideas for Food and Games
RECENT NEWS
By Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and Charles Martin, Government Affairs Director of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce
At the start of the pandemic last year, it became clear that along with significant challenges posed, there were new opportunities to reevaluate Vermont’s needs and invest in our future. The Vermont Chamber identified specific critical needs for working Vermonters in child care, broadband, and housing. During the past legislative session, we saw substantial investment in these areas through a child care bill, $150 million allocated for broadband expansion, and $190 million allocated for housing.
However, when it came to providing immediate support to recovering businesses, the Legislature failed to help in a meaningful way. Only $30 million in relief grant money was allocated for Vermont businesses. That is not nearly enough. In December, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development estimated the known unmet need of employers to be $500 million. The Legislature also advanced a $100 million tax on employers to fund increased unemployment insurance benefits. This new tax runs counter to the efforts of businesses working to recover from the pandemic and rehire staff.
Legislators deserve credit for supporting several Vermont Chamber priorities that made it over the finish line and will help businesses recover from the pandemic:
At the insistence of the Vermont Chamber, the Legislature agreed to exclude 2021 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) recipients from tax liability. The Vermont Chamber and other business organizations tirelessly advocated to prevent the Legislature from taxing 2021 PPP loans. Businesses that were impacted by the pandemic and accessed PPP will now avoid a significant tax bill.
We pushed the Legislature to prevent significant unemployment insurance (UI) contribution rate increases for employers forced to furlough employees because of Covid-19. We also helped secure changes to remove 2020, an anomaly year, from consideration when the Department of Labor computes unemployment insurance tax rate schedules. UI tax rates increase when employers lay off workers, penalizing them for that action. However, the pandemic layoffs were due to government restrictions, forcing this recalibration of the formula.
A new Business Attraction Investment Program will generate foreign direct investment (FDI) prospects for Vermont in aerospace, biotechnology, and renewable energy and provide Vermont with statewide representation in Québec. The initiative will increase FDI with Canada and promote cross-border trade and tourism when the border reopens. We helped secure funding for this initiative to strengthen our ties with Québec, promote tourism as we emerge from the pandemic, and attract Canadian companies interested in establishing a footprint in Vermont for contracting opportunities.
Legislation was codified and funded with $650,000 to continue the remote worker and worker relocation programs that were successful prior to pandemic. Qualifying new employees may receive up to $7,500 in relocation expense reimbursement if they become a resident of certain areas in Vermont. The Vermont Chamber recognizes the value of attracting new families to live and work in Vermont and fully supported these programs to improve and expand our statewide workforce.
Legislation passed that takes advantage of a change in federal health care policy and will result in millions of savings in health care costs for small businesses. Estimates suggest this could result in as much as $17 million in savings. The action is the result of the Legislature and Administration responding quickly to a federal change and the Vermont Chamber’s advocacy, which urged them to act to take advantage of these savings in the next health plan year.
Current pandemic-allowed alcohol to-go provisions will remain in place until July 2023 for licensees. This extension was a legislative priority identified by the Vermont Chamber and our partner organization, Vermont Independent Restaurants.
We helped businesses avoid a harmful cloud tax. The tax would have cost Vermont’s technology industry at least $14 million annually by Fiscal Year 2025 and would have damaged the state’s current tech-friendly reputation, while also disincentivizing the recruitment of remote workers. This tax proposal had the potential to negate much of the economic benefit that will be achieved through State investments in broadband infrastructure.
We also helped secure a $1.4 million boost for tourism marketing promotion and $600,000 for a regional stimulus program within the Department of Tourism and Marketing. The tourism promotion funds will be used to promote Vermont’s travel, recreation, culinary, arts, culture, agritourism, and heritage experiences to attract visitors and stimulate visitor spending with local attractions and businesses throughout the state.
While we celebrate these advocacy wins and historic investments in Vermont’s child care, broadband, and housing infrastructure, it is unacceptable that legislators did not advance substantial immediate relief for our state’s businesses. When legislators return for the next session, there is still money on the table: $514 million of Vermont’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds have not been appropriated. Significant funding should go directly to helping Vermont’s businesses, which are operating at severe losses and still struggling because of the pandemic. The year ahead holds continued challenges, and it is our shared responsibility to ensure our state’s business community recovers and our economic future is bright.
RECENT NEWS
By Charles Martin, (former) Government Affairs Director of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce
While recent news of the cancellation of Montpelier’s hotel project is troubling, those familiar with Act 250 are not surprised. The decision to terminate the project is yet another example of how truly broken our state’s principal land use law is. Montpelier’s current problem is high-profile and outrageous, but don’t mistake it as an outlier. It is representative of what hundreds of permit seekers have gone through and will continue to experience if this law is not updated.
To recap, the recently nixed Capitol Plaza project was approved by an Act 250 panel, the Development Review Board, the Design Review Board, and Montpelier voters. The City has invested more than $1 million in the project that will now be paid back in property taxes instead of parking garage revenues, as was originally planned. The Bashara family, owners of the Capitol Plaza, will forfeit over $1 million because of legal fees related to an endless appeals process and the project’s subsequent cancellation.
Montpelier loses 50-60 construction jobs, 30-50 hotel jobs, and the State of Vermont loses an estimated $300,000 in annual rooms and meals tax revenue. Perhaps most upsetting in the wake of an economically devastating pandemic, Montpelier and nearby businesses will not experience the widely anticipated increase in hotel guests that the new venue was expected to generate for local shops and restaurants.
Even after formal support by several elected oversight bodies and a direct vote by Montpelier residents to approve the project, a small group was able to derail the project. Providing power to individuals to advocate for their interests is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy, however, the Act 250 appeals process has evolved into a costly and reliable dilatory tactic often used by groups unwilling to accept development proposals that otherwise have broad community support.
We are fortunate to live in the most beautiful state in the nation, and Act 250 deserves considerable credit for helping Vermont maintain this status. However, I doubt the creators of Act 250 were concerned with disrupting the natural beauty of a parking lot wedged between a railroad track and another parking lot (this is an accurate site description of the project in question), alongside another hotel in the center of our densely populated capital city. Even more upsetting is the now-obsolete parking garage proposal was intended to address Montpelier’s parking scarcity. The project’s termination means vehicles will continue making laps around town searching for limited parking spots and adding to local air pollution.
The outdated nature of Act 250 should concern all Vermonters, not only the Montpelier residents recently harmed by this project’s cancellation. Our youth are fleeing the state to seek opportunity elsewhere. We can continue to debate why, or we can address some of the obvious contributors to the exodus. Act 250 in its current form is a direct contributor to the economic stagnation facing many of our communities. This stagnation amplifies the disenfranchisement of young people who are leaving in search of opportunity elsewhere. Left unchanged, we can count on Act 250 to continue blocking modest economic development proposals around the state that may have otherwise provided incentive for our children and young families to remain local and thrive in place.
In 2017, the Legislature created The Commission on Act 250: The Next 50 Years. The bipartisan commission’s purpose was to assess Act 250 and make recommendations for changes to equitably modernize the law. The Commission’s final 79-page report included dozens of recommendations to bring Act 250 into the 21st century. To date, the State House has implemented no substantive reforms.
Members of the House and Senate have the power to reform this law to satisfy environmental concerns while also permitting our communities to invest in themselves. Vermont’s designated downtowns and growth centers are well positioned to accommodate new economic opportunities, and modest changes in law could make development in these areas more realistic, while also decreasing sprawl on the periphery of municipal areas. The Legislature is now in its third year of listening to redundant testimony from a diverse group of stakeholders who have explicitly detailed recommendations for modifying the components of Act 250 responsible for egregious outcomes like those in Montpelier. A lack of action guarantees this scenario will repeat elsewhere, with Vermonters who depend on main streets left to suffer from the fallout of recurring instances of wasted opportunity.
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