The Vermont Department of Labor says the state wants to borrow $58 million from the federal government to pay its unemployment benefits through the end of March.
The department said yesterday that Vermont is paying more than $4 million a week in unemployment benefits and expects its unemployment trust fund to run out early next month.
Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden says it’s necessary that the state borrows the money from the U.S. Treasury to continue to pay benefits even though it will burden Vermont employers later.
She says the loans will be repaid by the employers through annual increases in the federal unemployment tax.
She says 27 other states are currently borrowing from the Treasury to pay benefits.