Tim’s Accountability Agenda

I’ve crisscrossed Vermont the last few months, listening to Vermonters from all walks of life. I’ve heard a lot about the challenges facing our state. Vermonters are frustrated by rising health insurance premiums, the scarcity of affordable homes to own and rent, seemingly intractable homelessness and public safety problems, and brutal property tax increases. They feel like State government can’t figure out what to do to support rural communities.

I’m running for State Auditor to hold the state government accountable to address these challenges.

The Auditor doesn’t make policy, but it can hold the executive branch and the Legislature accountable to solve problems and spend taxpayer dollars effectively. I believe Vermonters deserve excellence from their state government. My Accountability Agenda (which will continue to develop as I speak with Vermonters) is focused on getting results for Vermonters on the issues that matter most to them.

The Basics

A core responsibility of the State Auditor is to audit the State’s financials and the State’s use of federal funds. I bring five years as Deputy State Auditor to this critical work. Making sure Vermont has comprehensive systems in place to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse must always be central to the office’s work. Although it not glamorous, these efforts promote a high-performing culture in State government, support the State’s high bond rating, and reduce the risk that the federal government will recapture much-needed funding.

Healthcare Costs

Health care costs are crushing Vermont. As recently as 2020, Vermont’s health insurance premiums were close to the national average. Now they’re more than double. This means financial stress for individuals, families, and businesses who are already squeezed by the cost of living crisis. But it doesn’t stop there, rising premiums put pressure on schools to shed teachers and course offerings or raise property taxes (generally it’s a combination of both). Growing health care costs are also straining the State budget, cannibalizing other important services.

Merely slowing the growth of healthcare costs is not enough. We must actively bring the costs down, now. Without serious action, Vermont’s affordability crisis will just get worse.

As State Auditor, here are some of the approaches I’ll take to address this issue:

  • Identify opportunities to lower costs by reducing bureaucracy and targeting exorbitant prices.

  • Analyze wait times for primary, speciality, and mental healthcare services to identify geographic disparities.

  • Examine the effectiveness of State health care professional incentive programs to make sure all corners of Vermont are benefitting.

  • Scrub the State’s health care expenditures to make sure Vermont is not overpaying, including for prescriptions and out-of-state care.

Housing Affordability

The housing crisis affects every corner of Vermont, and has real second-order consequences for all of our other challenges. Rising rents are pricing people out of our downtowns. Young people are struggling to buy their first home. Employers cannot recruit workers because there is nowhere for them to live. Seniors looking to downsize are finding few options. Meanwhile, taxpayers are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into initiatives to fix these problems with mixed returns.

When I first entered public service as a City Councilor twenty years ago, I was already raising the alarm about the housing crisis. I went on to spend more than a decade developing hundreds of units of affordable housing with Cathedral Square. I know the scale of the challenge understand housing development. As a result, I know that not all public investments in housing produce equally beneficial results.

The Auditor does not create housing policy, but can determine which housing programs are actually delivering results, and raise public awareness about where improvements can be made.

As State Auditor, here's what I'll do to help address Vermont's housing crisis:

  • Assess the performance of the State’s many housing programs with an eye toward cost to taxpayers, affordability guarantees, and geographic equity.

  • Examine the State’s many infrastructure programs to determine whether they are well-aligned with the State’s housing needs.

  • Quantify the effects of short-term rentals, private equity ownership, and other speculative second home ownership on housing markets on Vermont residents who need homes and apartments they can afford.

Insulating the Budget from President Trump's and Congress’s Actions

I’m disturbed by many of the policies that are coming out of the Washington. Whether it’s significant cuts to Medicaid, disastrous handling of trade issues with allies like our Canadian neighbors, unprompted foreign wars with no coherent plan, or illegal abductions on our soil, federal decisions are hurting Vermont families, businesses, schools, and local governments.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics for me. Vermonters of all backgrounds and political persuasions are being negatively affected by these dangerous and erratic policies. While Vermont cannot control what happens in Washington, we can be prepared for it. I believe the Auditor’s office can play a role by:

  • Reviewing Vermont's exposure to changes in federal funding and identify areas of greatest vulnerability.

Strengthening Rural Communities

My interest in rural economic development and vitality goes back decades, and in my professional work I was fortunate to join forces with community members in small towns to create new housing, child care, and infrastructure. Throughout the campaign I’ve heard consistently that small towns need help. At the same time, there is a sense that Montpelier is sending mixed signals. Will small rural elementary schools be forced to close? If so, would young people even consider moving there? Will new housing programs reach rural areas, or will they mostly serve larger population centers? Will low and moderate income working families be able to afford to live in towns with ever-growing second home housing stock? All good questions.

I will use the resources of the office to:

  • Evaluate the extent to which small towns are receiving their fair share of state resources for housing, infrastructure, and related programs.

  • Identify ways to support the capacity of local government to handle increasingly complex compliance with State and federal grant programs.

  • Create a rural health dashboard that identifies the assets needed for a vibrant community and repeatedly direct decision makers to it to inform their program and spending choices.

Government Excellence

People who believe in the power of state government to improve people’s lives have spent a lot of time making excuses in recent years for state government’s shortcomings and failures. It’s time to put the excuses aside. Vermonters deserve excellence from the State. My mission is to promote a culture of excellence in State government. I have a positive vision for State government, but we have to demand better than what we’re seeing. Too many Vermonters feel that they’re paying more and more into “the system” for diminishing returns. Too many policymakers are forgetting that the system is there to serve the public, not the other way around.

Confidence in government at all levels has been eroding. As State Auditor, I’ll celebrate excellence whenever I see it, but will be honest when things fall short. And when I find problems, I’ll respond by recommending how to get back on track. We can all look at Washington and say “That’s the wrong way to run government.” Together, we can make Vermont a place people point to and say “that’s the right way."