Gov. Phil Scott unveils his budget and met with mixed reaction [Video]

On Tuesday afternoon Gov. Phil Scott unveiled his fiscal year 2025 budget. Scott said we’re now back to pre-pandemic times where spending has to be more sustainable which is why his budget only increases roughly 2% to $8.6 billion.The general fund had a roughly 3.5% growth rate to $2.3 billion, the education rose to $2.4 billion, and transportation fund sits at $353 million. Key items this year are building more housing, improving public safety, and the opioid crisis, along with making Vermont more affordable. Scott called for millions of dollars of new investments into housing programs like VHIP to ease the housing shortage, and wants to give the judicial branch more money to reduce the backlog of pending criminal cases.However, the elephant in the room was the estimated 17%-19% property tax increase to pay for public schools over the next year. Scott wants lawmakers to look at potentially consolidating schools …