Updated at 7:45 p.m.
Gov. Phil Scott urged lawmakers to heed the message that voters sent in November and work with him to lower the cost of living for Vermonters fed up with higher taxes and fees.
During his fifth inaugural address, Scott told lawmakers Thursday afternoon that despite his efforts to hold the line on tax increases, lawmakers over the past two years had lost sight of how their policies were affecting the lives of constituents.
“Vermonters told us — loudly and clearly — they expect us to get back on course, to spend within their means, and above all else, make Vermont more affordable for them,” he said, addressing a joint session of the General Assembly.
The line was met with one of several standing ovations, mostly from Republicans.
“I think he hit the nail on the head,” Rep. Pattie McCoy (R-Poultney), the House minority leader, said.
In November, voters responded to Scott’s urging and broke Democrats’ supermajority in the legislature. They boosted the ranks of Republicans in both chambers and altered the balance of power in the Statehouse.
Collaboration is now the name of the game. Democrats have said they know that only bipartisan solutions to runaway health care costs and the housing and climate crises have any hope of success this session.
After the speech, House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) said she plans to focus less on tax rates and more on making sure that Vermonters are getting their money’s worth on existing programs in public safety, housing and health care.
“It’s not about specific taxes here and there,” Krowinski said. “It’s about ensuring that the programs we have in place are working. You’re going to hear a lot about accountability and oversight this legislative session to make sure that we’re getting a return on the investments we implemented.”
As he has time and again, Scott highlighted the state’s demographic challenges as the source of many of its ills. In an aging state where fewer children attend schools and more workers are needed for childcare centers, construction and eldercare, the costs rise for everyone.
“With fewer to pay for the growing burden of taxes and fees, education, utilities, and health care, Vermont becomes less and less affordable for those still here,” he said. “And as competition for a limited workforce pushes wages up, everything gets more expensive.”
To combat these challenges, he intends to focus on building more housing and reforming the education system. He proposed what he called an “actual housing bill” that would dramatically speed the construction of homes and create incentives to renovate dilapidated properties.
Last year he complained that a more robust housing reform bill was complicated and weakened by lawmakers who sought to streamline permitting processes but also to expand environmental protections.
The state is currently building about 2,300 new homes a year. Scott said it needs more than 8,000 new homes per year over the next five years to help grow the workforce the state needs.
A centerpiece of his speech was his proposal to rein in property taxes that fund education, which soared an average of 14 percent last year and are projected to rise another 6 percent this year. The state is spending $2.3 billion annually to educate 83,500 children in a system that he said is “out of scale and very expensive.”
Later this month, Scott said, he will lay out in his proposed budget a “multi-year plan to transform education.” The effort will include a new “student centered” funding formula, a simpler governance structure and measures to help school boards cut costs.
“This session we have the rare opportunity to not only make our system more affordable for taxpayers, but to improve the quality of education for all kids — no matter their challenges or where they live,” he said — a line that got him another standing ovation.
Scott Giles, president and CEO of the Vermont Student Investment Corporation, which provides student aid, said he was glad that Scott talked about education quality, including class size and disappointing test scores, not just cost.
“We’re spending money but also not getting the outcomes for students that we would expect, given the investment we’re making,” Giles said, echoing Scott’s point.
While Scott included many of the themes that he has touched on during his previous four terms, this speech was one of Scott’s most passionate and urgent.
Early on, when mentioning lawmakers, some former, who passed away in the last year, Scott got choked up. After mentioning the passing of Bill Keogh, Curt McCormack, Dick Sears, Don Turner and Bill Doyle, Scott got to “my dear friend and mentor.” He pausing for several seconds, unable to say the name. The chamber applauded to support him at that emotional moment.
As the claps faded, Scott composed himself and said, “Dick Mazza.” The Colchester grocer, a longtime and influential senator, died in May at age 84.
There were also several moments of levity during the session, which included plenty of pomp and circumstance.
After a series of state officers were sworn in, the newly installed Lt. Gov. John Rodgers quipped, “I haven’t heard so much swearing since I left the farm.”
And during a list of his administration’s achievements that included the restoration of rail service from Burlington to New York City, Scott noted the state has recently had another “huge accomplishment in transportation.”
“Because this year, we had just one — one — truck stuck in Smugglers Notch,” he said to hearty laughter.
Some lawmakers weren’t in a jovial mood. Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (P-Chittenden Central), boycotted the governor’s speech, watching it on television from the Statehouse cafeteria. Vyhovsky is one of the lawmakers who unsuccessfully sued Scott over his interim appointment of Education Secretary Zoie Saunders.
She has also been a vocal critic of his policies about homelessness, and that’s what caused her to skip the speech, she told Seven Days. She said she didn’t want to sit through a speech by a governor she blames for kicking Vermonters in need out of the motel program.
And two other Progressive members of the House, Brian Cina and Troy Headrick, both of Burlington, rarely applauded the governor’s speech and did not stand, even when most other lawmakers did.
Rep. Kate Logan (P-Burlington), the head of the House Progressive caucus, said her members were disappointed, particularly by Scott’s suggestion that rural members of the legislature could join forces to block legislation supported by Chittenden County lawmakers that harmed rural areas.
“He’s continuing to sow division,” Logan said.
Much of Scott’s speech what not about division, however, but about collaboration, putting party politics aside and lauding Vermonters who selflessly helped their neighbors in times of need, such as when floods hit. He asked lawmakers to take such examples to heart as they commence a session he expects to be very difficult, but which also presents opportunity.
“This year, we’ve once again been asked to step up, solve big problems and help people. And there’s no doubt our challenges are great,” he said. “But if we meet them head-on — accept reality but refuse to settle for it — I know, when this session comes to a close, we will be able to go back to our communities with our heads held high, proud of the work we did here.”
Correction: March 6, 2026: Pattie McCoy represents Poultney. A previous version of this story contained an error.
Anne Wallace Allen contributed reporting.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2025.
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