Burlington City Council approves fiscal 2025 budget. No layoffs, but tax increases

Burlington City Council on Monday voted unanimously to pass the fiscal 2025 budget totaling $107.8 million.

With less than three months in office, the vote went as well as Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak could hope − and predicted at a press conference discussing details of the budget earlier in the day, June 24.

To save money and close the $14.2 million gap inherited from her predecessor Miro Weinberger, the budget implements not filling already vacant positions, using one-time funds, and increasing certain taxes and fees, all in an effort to close the gap. Investments have been focused on public safety measures and avoiding layoffs.

Addressing budget concerns has occupied much of the mayor's time in office, but the budget − presented alongside Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad, City Council President Ben Traverse and City Councilor Eugene Bergman − is something Mulvaney-Stanak said is "balanced" and she is "proud of." The 2025 fiscal year goes into effect July 1, 2024.

Schad presented the budget through the lens of five principles: Affordability, sustainability, being the right size, being fair and reflecting the priorities of the city.

Affordability

Saving money for city residents is something Mulvaney-Stanak and Schad stressed, saying they would rather find money elsewhere than directly raising certain taxes. However, the municipal property tax rate did increase 10.7% from FY24. Homeowners with a $300,000 home will pay about $20.08 more in municipal property taxes every month. According to city estimates, adding in school taxes, utilities and recycling service, the same homeowner will pay a total of about $64.99 more every month. This increases for owners with $500,000 and $700,00 homes.

A public safety tax of $0.03 was initially approved by taxpayers, but the city was instead able to implement $0.02. The city also is reducing the rate of growth of the general fund budget.

Sustainable

Moving away from one-time funds is something that Mulvaney-Stanak has stressed during multiple budget meetings, saying they should be used infrequently. To do so in the future, the city now needs to identify sustainable financial practices that move away from relying on one-time funds.

A User Fee Study that the city conducted in the spring "found that several of our fees are far below market rates, and in many cases were not covering expenses," Schad said during the press conference. The city plans to implement suggested fee increases from this analysis.

Some departments raising fees include the Fire Department, Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department, and Burlington City Arts. Schad said that in all cases, those who cannot afford the fees will maintain access to those services.

Right size

Creating an appropriately sized government for what the community needs now and in the future has been an important principle for the city to follow, said Mulvaney-Stanak, as it feeds into the other principles of this budget.

Currently, that means leaving open 18 city positions. Mulvaney-Stanak and Schad said they spoke with all those departments and came to an agreement to leave the positions open for the year to save about $1 million.

The city is awaiting an Operational Efficiency Study that will analyze the departments and make recommendations for more appropriate sizing for now and for the future.

Fair

As mentioned with affordability, Mulvaney-Stanak mentioned that being fair in raising new revenue across the entire community, so property taxpayers don't bear the burden, has been important.

To balance investing in community safety and affordability, consumption taxes will increase so that some of the tax burden will fall beyond property owners, and more so on those who can afford expenses like eating at restaurants or other goods and services.

The hotel and motel tax will increase from 2% to 4%, and non-lodging gross receipts tax − similar to a sales tax but levied on the seller of the goods or service instead of the buyer − will increase from 2% to 2.5%.

Priorities

The mayor was focused on community safety before being voted into office. That, alongside maintaining city services and creating a good process for city employees and unions, were all listed by Schad as priorities.

Schad broke down the funding of some of these priorities:

• Approximately $3.87 million more in the Police ($2.47 million) and Fire ($1.4 million) operating budgets from FY24 to FY25.
• $344,000 to fund and commence BTV CARES, an initiative to hire more mental health and clinical care experts.
• Hiring 10 new officers and up to the authorized limit of 11 Community Support Officers (up from six currently on staff).
• Additional $100,000 for the police department to support recruitment and retention.
• $500,000 to supplement city departments with private security services.
• $150,000 for added security and an in-house social worker at the Fletcher Free Library.
• $50,000 for services and support on city land near encampments.
• Maintaining city services for visitors and residents amidst a budget gap, specifically for nonprofit partners like the Howard Street Outreach Team, Rape Crisis Center, Steps to End Domestic Violence and the Turning Point Center.

Moving forward, Mulvaney-Stanak said she wants to establish a better process for reviewing and collaborating on a budget. This includes using data analysis to build a multi-year plan of what to prioritize. Schad said the city will begin work on the fiscal 2026 budget fairly soon to get a head start on this planning. The mayor plans to hold a financial summit in August to look at what is needed for long-term budgeting solutions.

Mulvaney-Stanak's first budget aimed to align common values, something that Bergman, a five-term councilor who began working with former Mayor Bernie Sanders in the 1980s, said is important for any success in government

Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com.