The Vermont Mayors Coalition announced half a dozen goals for the current year Thursday at the Statehouse.
The coalition supports the proposal outlined by Treasurer Beth Pearce and favored by Scott to use existing resources to fund cleanup of Lake Champlain in the near future.
“We shouldn’t then go to sleep on this issue for the next two years,” Weinberger said, urging lawmakers to begin drawing up a long-term financial plan.
The coalition is asking the state provide an 80 percent match to municipalities for water quality improvements, Weinberger said.
“We just know from past experience on comparable issues that the state having skin in the game, if you will, being responsible for costs drives better, smarter, more effective more efficient policies,” Weinberger said.
Three of the proposals touch on criminal justice.
Rutland Mayor Chris Louras said the coalition supports reviewing and updating the curriculum used in training Vermont law enforcement officers to ensure that it is consistent with state and national fair and impartial policing standards.
Louras said while the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council has adopted policies around fair and impartial policing, “much more can be done.”
“Unless we recognize the changing demographic in the country, and embrace diversity as a state, as communities and more importantly for the people who are the face of each and every community, our law enforcement officers, we’re going to see some dire consequences,” Louras said.
The mayors lauded Gov. Phil Scott for prioritizing opiate addiction statewide priority, and called for more state support for efforts on the municipal level. They would like to see the state offer matching funds for local programs to fight opiate addiction.
Referencing a Seven Days story this week on a record-breaking number of overdose deaths in 2016, Weinberger said the continued rise in fatal overdoses is “troubling,” especially as overdose-reversing drug naloxone has become more common.
The coalition is also pushing for establishing a system where federal authorities notify local and state law enforcement when someone who is not permitted to own a firearm attempts to purchase one.
Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon said Vermont is “firmly in a reactive” position when it comes to opiate abuse, domestic violence and gun violence.
The coalition previously came out in support of establishing universal background checks for gun sales. Though mayors did not highlight it in their goals for the legislative session, Montpelier Mayor John Hollar confirmed that the group backs proposed legislation this year to require background checks on almost all gun transfers in Vermont.
The group also is looking to lawmakers to make changes to state policies relating to taxation in municipalities.
They would like to see the Legislature change a tax on municipal parking structures, a call they have made in the previous two legislative sessions.
Under current law, if any portion of municipal parking facility is leased to an individual or business, the facility is subject to state tax, according to Winooski Mayor Seth Leonard.
“That’s a pretty significant deal in terms of limiting towns and cities in our ability to have the flexibility to support successful, thriving, vibrant communities,” Leonard said.
The coalition is also urging lawmakers to revise current state law to lift a cap on the number of tax increment financing districts in Vermont, a step the coalition says will lead to economic development in the downtowns of municipalities that are currently barred from participating.
Montpelier, Rutland, Newport, Springfield and Bennington are all pushing for a change to this law.
