Symington likely to make decision soon

BENNINGTON — With the Legislature in adjournment, Speaker Gaye Symington, who has announced she will not seek re-election to her House seat, is touting the Legislature's successes over the past four months.

Symington, 54, is expected to mount a campaign for governor, but in an interview with the Banner Tuesday said she will likely make her decision next week. In the meantime, the Jericho Democrat is focused on what the Legislature accomplished during the last biennium, which drew to a close last week.

According to Symington, the biennium was "very productive and constructive," after the Legislature altered many of the initiatives put forth by Republican Gov. James Douglas, who is seeking his fourth term as Vermont's chief executive.

"Given the challenges of this session, I think our budget bills speak very highly of where our values were," Symington said.

Lawmakers and the Douglas administration faced difficult choices as the state looked to cut nearly $25 million in the face of bleak revenue forecasts.

Symington said the general fund budget submitted by Douglas under-funded hospitals and would have increased health care premiums for low-income

Vermonters. The Legislature, however, "refused to go along with those cost shifts," she said.

"The final bill that we passed made the hospitals whole and didn't increase premiums," she said.

Symington said the Legislature also restored funding for roads that was cut in Douglas' budget, and put more money into the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILOT, which allows municipalities to take in revenue on state property that otherwise would not yield property taxes.

"Avoiding the health care cost shifts and the pressures on property taxes were high priorities for us, and we were able to live up to that," Symington said.

But progress fell short of what she had hoped to accomplish. Symington said she was looking to reduce the 12-month waiting period that Vermonters must endure before being eligible for Catamount Health. She also wanted to prevent insurance companies from rejecting people for pre-existing conditions.

"One of the big disappointments for me is that we were not able to do more in health care," she said.

The Legislature was able to pass an economic stimulus program submitted by Douglas in the waning days of the biennium. Symington said passing the package was possible after it was retooled by lawmakers.

The plan calls for investment in road and bridge projects through bonding. Symington was quick to point out that House leaders had pushed for bonding, and that Douglas had opposed such a measure until he submitted his plan with about two weeks left in the session.

"It wasn't until the very end ... that he changed his mind and was supportive of increased bonding," she said.

Symington said it was the Legislature that was able to bring state Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, who opposed some of Douglas' plan, into the process and redraft the initiatives.

"We were able to improve much of that," she said.

Symington said she remained opposed to aspects of the package, a weekend sales tax holiday, saying it was not the "wisest use of resources," but did not attempt to derail it.

She said she "didn't want to compromise the quality of the rest of the work" the Legislature was able to accomplish.

Perhaps setting up a theme for her possible campaign, Symington said the state must do a better job anticipating the revenue forecast in the coming years to help Vermonters navigate through difficult financial times.

"What we don't do well enough is anticipate what we do next year — where do we go from here?" she said. "We have not put ourselves in a place where we are able to find new revenue."