FY18 passed 9 days before the FY17 budget expired because Scott wouldn’t agree to the House’s demand that school districts “find” savings that would allow the school districts to fund negotiations their health insurance and avoid ACA penalties. Scott asked the House to allow the Governor’s office to do the negotiations which was projected to return 26 million dollars to the state and still allow a single consolidated heath insurance contract. The end result was teachers having health insurance and property taxes being reduced by 13 million.

A massive amount of back and forth occurs during the negotiating. The FY17 impasse was negotiated by Scott and Legislator leaders directly. Did Phil Scott sit and personally write the FY24 budget? Probably not, but since it originated from his office, he bears complete responsibility for it. Then there’s the small bit about the governor’s role in how legislation gets enacted.