Five Percent Is Not Enough

Treasurer Elizabeth Pearce and Gov. Peter Shumlin favor expanding Vermont's rainy-day fund to 8% from 5%. Vermont is among only 15 states with a triple-A rating from the three major rating agencies.

"The rating agencies have cited our stabilization funds as a strength, to the extent that we can build on that strength it would serve us well in the future with our new ratings," Pearce said during an interview on Vermont Public Radio.

Pearce told interviewer Bob Kinzel that putting out bonds this fall to finance several projects will trigger a reevaluation of the state's rating.

Shumlin called expansion of the rainy-day fund, officially called the budget stabilization fund, a legislative priority for 2012.

"If the last recession taught us anything … it's that 5% is not enough; 8% would be better," he told VPR.

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