Meeting of February 1, 2017

February 1st 2017

The guest speaker today is Art Woolf, an economist from the UVM staff.

We have a visitor: John Allison invited by Bob Sanders

News of upcoming meetings:

2/8 - Speech contest

2/15 - Committee meeting

2/21- Board meeting at the Library

2/22 - Eileen Whalen of UVM Medical Center

Alan gave an update on the Super Bowl Squares

Lara informed us of a poetry and chocolate soire at the library on 2/7/17 at 6:30.

Happy Fines:

Sam celebrates his 87th birthday! WhooHoo

Lara has a guest this weekend, one of her friend’s children, and it will be a great time.

Denny is skiing at Trapp Family Lodge

Bill R thanked the parking crew: Tod, Denny, and Bill D

Bob Sanders is happy to be here and for his visitor today.

Howard is happy about Sam’s 87th birthday

Erik is happy about a trip to Chinatown Montreal with his family for Chinese New Year

Ric is happy that Megan is tolerating her treatment well and she’s very active

Deb is happy that Meaghan is leaving for New Zealand for 5 months

Joan is happy that her husband was nominated to the VT Sports Hall of Fame

Keith is happy that 250 hearing aides have been gotten for TELA

Richard enjoyed a trip to Lake Placid

Speaker: Art Wooolf

1988 he was the State Economist for Governor Madeleine Kunin where he applied economic principles to public policy issues. Art returned to UVM in 1991 and expanded his research to state and local government policies.

He spoke about the current demographic trends in Vermont and what they mean to business, economy, taxes, and so on. The population of Vermont is second in the nation in age, following Maine. The population in Vermont is not growing, yet it is growing older. This creates challenges in the school system and the work force. This looks good because Vermont unemployment is very low, however, local businesses struggle to find good people. In theory, wages should rise to attract and keep people, yet this hasn’t happened in the job market yet.

The standard of living is higher than most imagine. The average income is $58,000 for a household and in Chittenden County, it’s $100,000. The income of low, middle, and high income earners has been going up across all categories. People tend to marry those who are similarly educated and then the level of income of the household is derived from correlated factors. In order to combat the effects of the shrinking population, we should have a better attitude and vision of what exactly “growth” means for us. Previously, rural living was more appealing, yet now urban living around Burlington is becoming more and more popular. This feeds a cycle where people follow opportunities to the city and the increase in people generates more opportunities. We should ultimately focus on the growth of Chittenden County and the Burlington area to improve the lives of those living here and to attract them to stay.