Vermont PBS is set to enter fiscal year 2016 with about half the state funding the station’s received for years. Yet CEO Holly Groschner said Tuesday the station has put together a balanced budget.
“We do have some retirements that we won’t backfill,” Groschner said. “We have some equipment we would have preferred to upgrade, but none of that is going to keep us from keeping to our core mission and continuing our operation.”
The station’s been level-funded for years, with an annual state appropriation of $547,683. Facing a $112 million budget gap this year, state lawmakers decided to cut about half of that funding. The new appropriation of $271,103 is a substantial cut for the station, which previously relied on the state appropriations for about 9 percent of its funding.
“We obviously have to grapple with this shift,” said Vermont PBS Board Chairman Rob Hofmann. “It’s a very, very large change relative to what the state has provided, but it’s a relatively small piece of the overall funding.”
The station also has to prepare for the possibility that state funding will dry up entirely in the next few years. This spring, lawmakers discussed lowering the Vermont PBS appropriation to zero over a three year period. Hofmann said the station will have to think about that, but he doesn’t view the cuts – or the uncertainty – as a crisis.
"We are disappointed the state can't afford to support Vermont public media in a more robust way, but we see that our mission doesn't change." - Holly Groschner, Vermont PBS CEO
“This is a serious issue, the fiscal challenges and headwinds that we face,” he said. “That said, we’ve got a terrific staff, we’ve got wonderful individual donors and small businesses, medium-sized businesses in the state that are donors, and we’ve got a wonderful array of programs. So we face challenges like any other media organization.”
Hofmanm compared the state funding cuts to the problems faced by other news organizations as online media disrupted their business models.
Groschner was named CEO late last year after a turbulent period at the station related to the board’s violation of open meeting laws and the departure of CEO John King. The station also changed its name; it used to be called Vermont Public Television). Groschner said the funding cut doesn’t change her approach to the job.
“We are disappointed the state can’t afford to support Vermont public media in a more robust way, but we see that our mission doesn’t change,” she said. “We will continue to provide educational benefits for children and, in fact, open the door to grow more Vermont content on our four broadcast channels.”
