The mayors coalition delivered a message to lawmakers on Thursday: Don’t block city public safety ordinances and don’t saddle us with millions of dollars in wastewater and stormwater treatment upgrades.
The City of Burlington has upheld a charter change that would prohibit guns in bars and give police the authority to seize firearms from domestic abuse suspects. Lawmakers passed over the charter change in the first half of the biennium because the proposal lacked political support in the House.
While the Vermont Mayors Coalition hasn’t taken a stance on gun control, the mayors say cities must be able to pass ordinances that protect public safety. In a press conference on Thursday, the mayors said it comes down to local control. John Hollar, mayor of Montpelier, said municipalities have the right to enact ordinances that protect citizens.
Lawmakers also did not address the cost of wastewater and stormwater treatment upgrades for municipalities last year. The Legislature passed new water quality requirements, but did not find a way to help cities and towns deal with the $154 million in federally mandated sewage system improvements. Municipalities have five years to meet the upgrade requirements, and the state has yet to offer financial support or a mechanism for helping towns and cities pay for the upgrades.
The mayors coalition wants the state to pick up 80 percent of the cost, and allow municipalities to raise local taxes to pay for the remaining 20 percent.
The press conference at the Statehouse has become something of a ritual: In each of the past three years, the state’s eight mayors have lobbied lawmakers to pay attention to issues that affect the cities of Barre, Burlington, Newport, Vergennes, Rutland, Winooski, St. Albans and Montpelier.
On Thursday, the Vermont Mayors Coalition touted past successful lobbying efforts for mental health reforms, changes in the Tax Increment Financing program that help downtowns encourage development, and Act 46, the school district merger bill.
Burlington charter, policing reforms
Last year, the Legislature effectively put off addressing Burlington’s proposed charter changes, and instead passed a state law that makes it a crime for people with severe mental illness and violent offenders from possessing firearms. Vermont has among the most lenient gun laws in the nation (conceal and carry without a permit is legal), and the gun control measure was very controversial.
Lawmakers who oppose the charter change cite constitutional issues and the so-called “Sportsman’s Bill of Rights,” state statutes that protect gun ownership.
Miro Weinberger, mayor of Burlington, says “he fails to see how keeping guns out of bars and out of the hands of domestic abusers has anything to do with hunting.”
“The argument from sportsmen is not convincing,” Thom Lauzon, mayor of Barre, said.
In response to police killings in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, the mayors coalition is asking the Legislature to review police officer training in de-escalation techniques and anti-bias policing, as outlined in the recommendations of the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Mark Hoyt, the head of the Vermont Police Academy, questioned whether the mayors are aware that officers already receive training in these areas.
The mayors have not taken a position on legislation now moving through the Statehouse that would legalize marijuana.
Stormwater runoff upgrades
The EPA released a national report wastewater cleanup on Wednesday. The federal agency says Vermont needs to make $154 million in sewage system upgrades over the next five years.
More than 100 communities across the state will be required to make improvements to address stormwater runoff.
The state’s new water quality law, Act 64, does not include an ongoing tax mechanism for paying for the infrastructure upgrades.
The mayors coalition says the financial burden for municipalities is very high and the state should pick up most of the tab. They suggest an 80 percent match.
Bill Benton, the mayor of Vergennes, said his city has a problem with sewer overflows and not a month goes by that Lake Champlain International doesn’t send out a press release “ridiculing” the city. But Benton says Vergennes can’t afford the upgrades. “At some point the cost benefit equation goes backward,” he said.
Weinberger said the state needs to agree a target level of support and allow cities and towns to raise revenues through local option taxes to pay for the local match.
At the time of the press conference, the EPA survey had not been publicized and mayors were working with a $100 million figure from 2013.
When asked if the state could find money in the budget (which already has a $60 million hole) to support wastewater upgrades, House Speaker Shap Smith said: “His money wand doesn’t know how to find $100 million right now.”
Alyssa Schuren, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, says the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has a current balance of $67 million, receives an annual infusion of $17 million a year from federal and state sources, and offers low-interest loans to municipalities for clean water projects. The state’s new water quality law, Act 64, which anticipates revenues of $5.2 million for each of the next three years, will offer grants to municipalities, farmers and other partners.
