BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – As the affordability crisis continues, Burlington residents are facing numerous impacts to their wallets on Town Meeting Day and in next year’s budget.
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s administration has released its first look at the FY-26 budget numbers.
The six to seven percent proposed property tax hike is generally due to retirement and debt service increases which do not require voter approval. They will also fully leverage the public safety tax increase that was authorized by voters last year.
The increase might have been greater, but all the mayor says city departments took around a four percent reduction in funding, except for police and fire. Now, the mayor is looking at what other cuts can be made to make up for a projected $3 million budget gap.
“Getting to a place where we can make sure we are coming off of this one-time funding cycle and rightsizing the government, it’s not an overnight piece and so there’s a bit of transition where we can raise the revenue needed to step ourselves into a more sustainable place,” Mulvaney-Stanak said.
City Council President Ben Traverse, D-Ward 5, says the costs are too high, especially following last year’s 11-percent tax hike. He didn’t offer specific cuts. “There are serious affordability concerns here. I think if we’re really going to get out of this cycle of ever-increasing property taxes, we’re going to have to make some much more difficult, tougher, but necessary decisions with respect to our budgets,” he said.
Voters will also likely be weighing in on infrastructure bonds. What had been a nearly $240 million water and sewer bond has been pared down to $172 million after council pushback, but it will still increase water rates by around 89 percent. The city’s Megan Moir says they could still come back in two years for more bonding authority to finish the job. “What we did is just make sure that this first bond is focusing, you know, on the things that we view as the absolute most risky — doesn’t mean the other things that we’re pushing out a little don’t still have risk,” she said.
Voters will also be asked to approve a $20 million general obligation bond to address issues like crumbling sidewalks and aging bridges.
