[B]URLINGTON — Mayor Miro Weinberger says his administration has spent the last eight months compiling a “prudent, fiscally disciplined” budget that would cut property tax rates by a half penny.
It’s the fourth of five budgets during the mayor’s tenure that does not require an increase to property tax rates, Weinberger said Friday.
The tax rate decrease is possible because of strong revenue figures buoyed by Burlington’s growing economy, and savings on debt service payments made possible by the city’s improved credit rating, city officials said.
“At the same time I’m excited that this budget represents progress in some key areas,” Weinberger said, specifically public safety initiatives including more sworn officers on the police force, an opiates policy manager and money for the fire department’s paramedic program.
The mayor and his department heads began to acquaint city councilors with the proposed budget at two meetings this week, outlining in broad strokes the planned general fund revenue and spending.
Next week the counselors will be briefed on the revenue projections and proposed spending for the city’s enterprise and special funds, such as the airport, water and traffic funds. The administration wants a vote on the budget at the council’s June 13 meeting.
City officials were not able to provide overall spending and revenue figures that include the general fund as well as enterprise and special funds. Chief Administrative Office Bob Rusten said those figures will be available next week.
The general fund budget anticipates $67.7 million in spending on $68.7 million in revenue. That’s an increase in revenue of roughly $800,000 from the current fiscal year’s projected revenues, and an increase of spending of roughly $900,000. The current fiscal year ends June 30.
“We’re continuing to have a responsible fiscally conservative budget that focuses in on some of the key needs of the city,” Rusten said.
The mayor and department heads went through the budget line-by-line, looking at the three-year trend for each line to find areas where not all the money budgeted was spent, or to find areas where the money spent could be used more efficiently, Rusten said.
That exercise allowed the city to build a budget that pays for significant new initiatives, while not making major cuts to existing programs or services. The city was largely able to shift spending within existing revenue to pay for new positions and services.
“The bottom line is we tried to do it all within the overall numbers for revenues and expenses,” Rusten said.
The proposed budget for the Burlington Police Department would fully staff 100 sworn officers, which is the number of existing positions. However, historically the number of officers has hovered between 90 and 95, according to city officials.
It also pays for several new city positions including an opiate policy manager, another deputy fire chief, a citywide risk manager, a city architect and increased library staffing.
City Council President Jane Knodell, P-Central District, said those new positions will come under scrutiny. While the city is projecting a roughly $1 million surplus in the coming fiscal year, FY 2017, the following two years have projected deficits, she said.
New positions come with significant ongoing costs, such as salaries and benefits, and Knodell said she needs to be convinced the positions will save the city money elsewhere or fulfill crucial unmet needs.
Knodell said she would also like to see the city go further and reduce the general fund property tax rate by a full penny.
That would require finding additional savings or using part of the FY 2017 projected surplus, or an existing surplus from the last two years, to reduce property tax rates further than the mayor proposed, Knodell said.
“I’d like to kind of give some of that (surplus) back to the public,” she said.