Need for youth psych beds prompts unusual budget request for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center
The midyear administrative budget adjustment that absorbs the first weeks of every Vermont legislative session usually involves requests to transfer money between already existing programs. And normally a hospital will take several years to launch a new service.
This year those norms have been turned upside down. In the budget adjustment package released late last week, Gov. Phil Scott’s administration requested approval to reallocate $9.25 million from this year’s budget to support the rapid development of an inpatient youth psychiatric unit at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
However, the Bennington hospital has not yet committed to the project. Administrators with the Vermont Department of Mental Health now say they would like to see the legislative language broadened to allow the funds to go elsewhere if SVMC leadership decides not to move forward.