Friends,
Tuesday night’s candidate forum in Ferrisburgh Town Hall made the choice facing Addison-3 clear. Every candidate wants a stronger Vermont. The difference is how we get there and whether the policies on the table actually make life more affordable for the people who live here. Read Rob North’s full responses to the forum questions HERE.
Vermont’s biggest cost pressures—housing, education, healthcare, and energy—are driven by decisions made in Montpelier, not Washington. Property taxes, insurance premiums, and the price of a home have risen far faster than wages for years. Those are state-level outcomes from state-level choices on permitting, school funding, healthcare design, and energy mandates. Blaming the federal government or the governor does not change the math or lower a single bill.
At the forum, the Democratic candidates largely described a path of new or higher taxes to fund expanded childcare, healthcare, and paid leave; shifting costs onto employers (which then show up in prices); additional taxes on higher earners or second homes; and other expansions of government programs. Those ideas come from a desire to help people. The practical question is whether they reduce the overall cost of living or simply raise it for working families, retirees, and small businesses who already feel the squeeze. Past expansions have not delivered lower property taxes, more starter homes, or slower healthcare inflation.
Joe Baker and I kept returning to the same point: Vermont’s current approach on healthcare, education funding, permitting, and energy is not financially viable at the scale we are running it. We cannot tax and spend our way to affordability. The numbers on budget growth, property tax increases, and housing costs over the last several years show the results of that path.
Vermont is at a crossroads. We can continue the pattern of higher spending, higher taxes, scarce housing, and the most expensive education and healthcare systems in the country. Or we can elect people who will prioritize lower costs, faster housing approvals, more efficient schools, and restraint on new mandates so that working Vermonters and their kids can stay here.
After decades of the same majority setting the agenda in the Legislature, the results on affordability speak for themselves. The people and policies that produced the current cost crisis are unlikely to reverse it. Real change requires different priorities in Montpelier.
If you want a Legislature that treats affordability as the central test for every bill—not an afterthought—vote for Rob North and Joe Baker. We are the experienced team focused on practical results for Addison County and the rest of Vermont.
PLEASE VOTE for both Rob North and Joe Baker for State Representative.
Stay tuned and stay engaged.
I remain honored to be your Representative,
Rob North
Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham
