Where I stand
Everything starts local. These are the kitchen-table issues I hear about most in Pittsford and Proctor. Taxes and home costs rising faster than paychecks, our schools and healthcare under strain, and the roads, water, broadband, and services our towns run on. My approach is the same on all of them. Understand what our neighbors actually need, then do the steady work to deliver it, so our two towns are talked with, not just talked about.
In Pittsford and Proctor alike, home values have climbed by roughly a third or more in just a few years, far faster than paychecks, and reappraising at the market's peak risks locking families into tax bills they cannot sustain, even if the market later cools. I will fight for relief tied to what people actually earn, including stronger income sensitivity, so no one is taxed out of a home they already own.
Montpelier's new education law opens the door to merging away small rural schools. I will defend Pittsford's and Proctor's schools and the local control that comes with them, so decisions about our kids stay close to home.
Our school budgets are now passing by a handful of votes, caught between rising costs and tax-weary families. I will push for a fair funding formula that supports strong local schools without punishing small towns or pricing families out.
Vermont has the most expensive insurance in the country, and Rutland is losing local services. I will fight to keep care, from primary care to our community hospital, close to home and within reach for working families and seniors.
We cannot keep young families or fill local jobs without homes people can afford. I will back the housing Rutland-8 needs, including for seniors, while respecting the character of our towns.
Aging roads, bridges, and water and wastewater systems all need work, and small towns cannot put it all on local ratepayers. I will fight to bring state and federal dollars home so we can fix what is failing without breaking household budgets.
When tax bills climb, more go unpaid, and that strain lands on every other taxpayer in town. I will work to ease the pressure on municipal budgets and the property-tax burden that drives it, so our towns stay on solid footing, and our community members are not left out to dry.
Too many homes and small businesses in our towns still lack reliable internet, and that holds back work, school, and opportunity. I will push to finish the job of connecting rural Rutland County.
Our towns thrive when people can build a career and a life here. I will support local employers, workforce training, and the things that help families stay, from childcare to housing to connectivity, so our local economy can grow.
Rural fire, ambulance, and emergency services are stretched thin, and the opioid crisis keeps testing them. I will fight for sustainable funding for the first responders our towns count on, and for real support to address substance abuse.