State to lend a hand to cash-strapped towns hurt by Irene

From the Vermont Press Bureau:

MONTPELIER – The town of Halifax has 300 to 400 year-round residents. Its annual budget is $800,000. And the small southern Vermont hamlet is facing an estimated $7 million in infrastructure repairs as a result of Tropical Storm Irene.

For Halifax – and numerous other towns in a similar situation – the massive effort to rebuild roads has strained municipal coffers as federal aid is slow to come from Washington, D.C.

But top officials in state government on Tuesday outlined steps they are taking to ease the cash-flow problems that have arisen for some hard-hit towns as a result of the rebuilding effort.

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