As Inquires About Municipal Officials' Ethics Pour In, The Money Runs Out
Cities and towns across Vermont have concerns about their governing officials, but the new law to address those concerns came without the necessary funding.
When Vermont enacted a sweeping new municipal code of ethics on January 1, 2025, it marked a milestone in statewide efforts to bring more transparency and accountability to local government. Hailed as long overdue, the law created clear standards for ethical behavior by municipal officials and opened a formal channel for residents and local leaders to seek advice or file complaints about potential violations.
But just a few months later, the system has buckled.
The Vermont State Ethics Commission—the small agency tasked with implementing the new law—has suspended all services to municipalities after being overwhelmed by a surge of ethics complaints, advice requests, and inquiries. In a stark public notice issued in May, the commission announced it could no longer respond to new municipal ethics complaints or requests for guidance, citing severe understaffing and an unsustainable workload.
A Law Without Support
The Ethics Commission currently operates with just two part-time staff members: a part-time executive director and a part-time administrative assistant. The Vermont Legislature had initially signaled support for expanding the commission’s capacity, including the addition of a staff attorney. But in a last-minute decision, lawmakers pulled the funding, leaving the agency unable to fulfill the duties imposed by the very law the state had just passed.
“They didn’t give us staffing,” said the commission’s director, Christina Sivret, in a recent interview. “The solution would have been to give us more staff, and that just didn’t happen.”
Soaring Demand from Vermont’s Towns
The numbers tell the story of a system that collapsed under its own success. In the first four months of 2025 alone:
36 municipal complaint inquiries were submitted
19 formal municipal complaints were filed
45 requests for ethics guidance were made by municipal officials
3 requests for advisory opinions were submitted
By contrast, state-level ethics inquiries during the same period were far lower, with just 10 complaints, 11 inquiries, and 6 requests for guidance.
According to Sivret, municipal matters now account for roughly 80% of the commission’s total workload, a dramatic spike that began immediately after the law went into effect in January.
“This is clearly a service Vermonters want,” Sivret said. “We were surprised by how quickly it grew, but not that there was demand. Municipalities have long lacked independent ethics oversight.”
Unmet Expectations, Broken Promises
The new law was part of a two-step reform process that began with the establishment of the Ethics Commission in 2018 and the passage of a state-level code of ethics in 2022. The municipal law was meant to mirror that process by giving towns a basic ethical framework and access to independent advice. But enforcement authority remains in limbo. While the 2024 legislation granted the commission investigatory powers over state officials starting September 2025, that power has now been delayed two more years—again due to lack of staffing.
The result: a law with high aspirations but no means of enforcement and rapidly vanishing support.
Political Crosscurrents
What’s especially puzzling, according to Sivret, is how the Legislature pivoted so abruptly from championing ethics reform in 2024 to undercutting it in 2025. “They took real steps forward last year and then just reversed course this year,” she said. “It’s surprising, especially in a time when public trust in government is such a critical issue.”
While some lawmakers have expressed continued interest in strengthening the ethics framework, the budget decisions tell a different story. The removal of a dedicated staff attorney from the budget—at the final hour—undermined the commission’s ability to function just as its responsibilities ballooned.
Municipal Ethics Liaisons and Local Responsibility
Under the new system, each municipality designates an “ethics liaison” to serve as a point of contact with the state. But as Sivret clarified, these liaisons have no investigative role or subject-matter responsibility unless towns choose to expand their duties. In cases where a complaint is lodged against the liaison, an alternate must be found. That complexity further burdens small towns already struggling to navigate the new system without state-level support.
What’s Next?
The Ethics Commission is now exploring temporary solutions, including fundraising for contract staff, to avoid a cycle of “start-stop” service delivery. But without legislative support and a permanent staffing increase, Vermont’s promise of municipal ethics reform remains stalled.
“This isn’t about our office,” Sivret said. “It’s about the communities that rely on these services—and right now, they’re being left behind.”
As ethics complaints continue to surface across Vermont towns—from conflict-of-interest allegations to questions of preferential treatment—it’s clear that demand for oversight is real. Whether lawmakers will meet that demand with the necessary resources remains to be seen.