There are many major challenges for businesses and households in Cambridge,
Waterville and Belvidere. But, with the right leadership, there are solutions.
Challenge: With the decay of our agriculture and forestry industry we’ ve seen the erosion
of our rural job base. More and more, we need to travel a long distance to find a job. And
contractors are suffering as well. Solution: This is still a great place to live. We need
broadband in every home, and good roads to get there. We’ ve got a burgeoning creative
economy, which can take off if we get our infrastructure up to date. My magazine
business, which now employees 17 people right here in Jeffersonville, could just as easily
operate in Belvidere given good broadband. And there are many more companies like
mine ready to take root should we invest in our roads, bridges and broadband. To me,
safe reliable infrastructure is a primary function of government.
Challenge: Property taxes are hurting us at home and hammering small business in
Vermont. Solution: We need to control school spending, but not at the expense of losing
our local schools and shipping our kids to who knows where as some have suggested. I’ ll
push to create an education funding system that freezes the percentage of funding that
comes from the property tax at a set level and utilizes other broad base taxes to ensure
our property taxes don’ t continue to rise. In fact, with the Democratic leadership of the
House I introduced a study that will do just this. But we need to do more than just study
the problem though. We need to act.
Challenge: Less than 10% of the Representatives in the Vermont House have business
or job building experience. Solution: I’ ve owned several businesses and know what it’ s
like to claw and scratch to get an idea off the ground, meet a payroll and grow a company
that provides good jobs right here in our community. As a former builder in the area,
I’ ve fought against efforts in the House to make it more difficult to be a subcontractor in
Vermont.
