Now that Mr. Douglas has been elected Governor, he and Lt. Governor Dubie have some might big expectations to meet. I think many Vermonters believe that Mr. Douglas and Mr. Dubie can actually create jobs. Short of increasing government payrolls or massive public works projects, government does not create jobs, businesses and entrepreneurs do.
Government can encourage job creation by the policies, procedures and regulation (or lack thereof) implemented, particularly via tax credits and other methods to ease the burden that businesses would otherwise face. Examples are the greasing of the skids for Husky Manufacturing to locate in Milton and the VEPC tax credits and VEDA guaranteed and low interest rate financing made available to many small businesses. All these incentives can help create or retain jobs, but we should not expect miracles.
Permit process reform is another area during the campaign that all the candidates promised to implement. This is a crying need in Vermont, not just for environmental permits, but any permits needed to do business here, should be based on a predictable and speedy process. The last thing a business needs is uncertainty while expending substantial sums on lawyers and experts to meet permit requirements.
An excellent and needed amendment to the permit process is to prevent those who would game the legal system and the permit hearing and approval process to slow down or obfuscate the development the disagree with. There are legitimate concerns raised by proposed developments, but only those persons or businesses affected by them should be party to the process.
The Conservation Law Foundation in particular should be restrained from throwing up roadblocks to legitimate projects as they did recently in Bennington when a new school was planned. These tactics of delay and obfuscation drive up the cost of doing business in Vermont and should be sharply curtailed.
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