Vt. Faces Financial Squeeze If Congress Refuses To Lift Cap

AP/ Toby Talbot

An excavator moves rocks on Vermont Route 107 in Bethel, which crews are still working to re-build, two months after Irene hit.

(Host) Governor Peter Shumlin says Vermont could face a major financial squeeze if Congress doesn't act soon to repay the state for more than half a billion dollars in repair costs to the state's transportation system caused by Tropical Storm Irene.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) Vermont's Congressional delegation is working on a plan to lift the federal cap on transportation repair costs caused by natural disasters.

The cap is set at $100 million but the cost of rebuilding the state's transportation infrastructure is estimated to be more than $600 million.

It's not clear when this issue will come for consideration in Washington because Congress hasn't passed a budget for this year and is currently operating on what is known as a "continuing resolution."  The Governor says this situation could cause some problems in Vermont.

(Shumlin) "Every week it's more of a problem than it was the week before because we're getting bills from contractors, we have to pay our Agency of Transportation workers, municipal communities desperately need to get repaid so every week we're in tougher shape than we were the week before. Clearly if it's February or March we have a much bigger problem that we have right now.  We've got to get this resolved."

(Kinzel) And Shumlin says there's a lot of precedent for Congress to lift this federal spending cap.

(Shumlin) "If there's any one thing that keeps your current governor from sleeping at night it is this question. Will Congress lift the cap as they've always done in major storms in America to make sure that Vermonters are taken care of and can rebuild in our time of crisis and time of need."

(Kinzel) Some lawmakers have proposed raising the state gas tax to help finance some of the road repairs. 

But if the federal cap isn't lifted, Shumlin says there's no way that Vermont can afford to tax its way out of this problem.

(Shumlin) "With all the good intentions of Vermonters and suggestions for raising money to help us through this one, $500 million - $600 million that's a huge number and Vermonters don't have that kind of change in their pockets." 

(Kinzel) The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on the new Transportation Budget bill this week. It's legislation that includes a provision that lifts the spending cap. If the legislation passes, House and Senate negotiators will meet to iron out the differences between the two chambers on federal transportation funding levels.

For VPR News, I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.