[B]URLINGTON — Mayor Miro Wienberger’s administration is looking for $47.7 million over the next four years to pay for planned capital expenses that are currently unfunded.
The additional spending would pay to repave 22 miles of sidewalks and 23 miles of roadway that are in poor to severe condition. That’s close to a quarter of the total miles of roadway in Burlington and close to 20 percent of sidewalks, according to city officials.
The city also plans to complete a bike path rehabilitation project, renovate City Hall Park; replace four fire trucks, improve the the city’s IT systems, create a contingency fund for emergency repairs and pay for deferred maintenance to unspecified city assets.
The plan does not cover repairs or renovations to Memorial Auditorium, which is in rough shape and likely to need additional work.
Weinberger said he will ask voters to approve a property tax increase in a November 2016 ballot measure to help pay for the improvements. At a Board of Finance meeting earlier this week, he pledged to take a balanced approach and said he would not ask property owners to shoulder the full cost.
Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, a state representative and a member of the Board of Finance, questioned whether voters would be able to give the ballot item full attention in an election year when they’re also casting ballots in a presidential race.
In the coming months the administration will unveil a revenue plan to pay for the unfunded capital spending. Weinberger said the city will raise money from the full range of stakeholders who will benefit from the infrastructure projects. In an interview with VTDigger, Weinberger said it’s too early to say what other revenue, besides the property tax increase, his proposal will include.
One option might be to use money from parking meters, he said. Meter revenues are on an upward trajectory thanks to reforms during the last three years and could become a “significant” source of money for capital projects, the mayor said.
Parking revenue taps nonresidents to help pay for infrastructure that benefits them, he said, and while city officials don’t have “perfect data” they believe more than $3 of every $4 in parking revenue comes from visitors, he said.
Another option is increasing the meals and rooms tax, which Weinberger didn’t endorse, but said is “definitely under consideration.” There is a “nexus” between infrastructure and amenities, such as the bike path, and people dining out and staying in hotels in Burlington, he said. Residents pay less than 40 percent of meals and rooms taxes, he added.
Weinberger also said he favors a plan that would present what his administration views as the city’s “high priority” capital needs as a package, instead asking voters and the council to take them up piecemeal. It would be “unfair” to do otherwise, he said.
A similar issue arose in 2013, when his administration put forward ballot items that included the so-called fiscal stability bond, a $9 million bond to reduce Burlington’s reliance on short-term borrowing, as well as bonding to pay for the first phase of the bike path rehabilitation project.
There were people who wanted to split the bike path funding from the stability bond, according to Weinberger.
“I said I wasn’t willing to do that,” he said, “We’ve got to eat our vegetables before we eat our dessert.”
For voters, that will mean they’ll be asked to approve needed rehabilitation projects, such as repaving roads and sidewalks, at the same time as they vote on new projects such as the planned renovation of City Hall Park.
The $47.7 million shortfall to pay for the projects would be spread over the next four fiscal years, from the upcoming FY 2017 budget through the FY 2020 budget. Much of the spending was identified in the mayor’s 10-year capital plan, released following his 2014 state-of-the-city address.
At that time, city officials said there would be a $60 million shortfall in the capital budget over the 10-year life of the plan. But city officials say that figure can’t be compared “apples to apples” with the $47.7 million shortfall identified over the next four years, because it didn’t account for capital expansions, such as the renovation of City Hall Park or building new sidewalks.
Chief Administrative Officer Bob Rusten said that roughly $42 million of the $47.7 million in unfunded capital spending is for repairs to the city’s existing infrastructure.
The spending plan includes $15.5 million to complete the bike path; $12.2 million for roadway and curb repairs; $8.4 million for sidewalk repairs; $3.4 million for new fire trucks; $3 million for City Hall Park; $2.3 million for deferred maintenance projects; $1.6 million for IT systems; and $1.2 million for a contingency fund.
