Residents will also be asked whether to send a message to the Legislature calling for a statewide $15 minimum wage and whether to increase the pay for city councilors to $5,000, from the current $3,000.
Voters will decide the fate of an $85.5 million school budget and a $19 million 10-year infrastructure bond to pay for school improvements districtwide.
Act 46 now requires municipalities to include their entire school budgets on the ballot — not just the portion paid for with property taxes, as was previously the case.
The portion of Burlington’s school budget paid with property tax is close to $74 million, with the remaining $11 million or so coming from grants. Passage would mean a 5.25 percent tax rate increase. For the owner of a home at the Burlington median value of $231,500, that would mean a $210 annual tax increase.
Burlington Schools Superintendent Yaw Obeng has said this budget will allow the district to make critical investments, and not all the money for new spending is coming from increased taxes.
As the result of improved fiscal management, the schools ended 2016 with a $1.13 million surplus. That surplus is paying for much of the new spending, school officials have said.
Those new investments include expanding preschool programs to meet demand and hiring librarians, social workers and special education support staff. The budget also sets aside $335,000 in a contingency fund, which school board members felt was necessary because they felt uncertain about federal funding for public education under the Trump administration.
As for the $19 million 10-year school infrastructure bond on the Town Meeting Day ballot, district officials say it’s necessary to pay for safety and accessibility improvements at Burlington High School, expansion of pre-kindergarten space at the Ira Allen building on Colchester Avenue, and renovations and four additional elementary school classrooms at Edmunds Middle School.
Without the deferred maintenance bond, the district could find itself paying for unplanned emergency repairs that could affect occupancy or facing building conditions that are unsafe, according to district officials.
The bond will cost the owner of that same median value Burlington home an average of $96 a year in additional tax during the coming decade.
District races present a clear choice
Burlington’s 12-member City Council includes eight ward seats and four district seats. Each district is made up of two wards. The district and ward seats are up for re-election in alternating years. On Town Meeting Day this year, voters will choose councilors for the four district seats.
In November, city voters approved a pair of ballot questions relating to the mixed-use redevelopment of the Town Center Mall, but debate over the project, and the divisions it exposed, continues to reverberate in city politics.
Those divisions are the backdrop for the three contested races Tuesday. Incumbent Dave Hartnett, I-North District, is running unopposed in the New North End.
Two challengers who have been part of the opposition to the Town Center redevelopment — Progressive Charles Simpson and independent Genese Grill — are looking to unseat incumbents who are staunch supporters of it.
Simpson is taking on Democratic incumbent Joan Shannon in the Southern District. Also seeking the Southern District seat is independent Abdullah Sall.
Grill is going up against City Council President Jane Knodell, a Progressive, in the Central District.
Simpson and Grill are members of the Coalition for a Livable City, a group of activists whose opposition to the redevelopment forced a citywide vote on new zoning that allows for the additional height required by the Town Center project.
The coalition fell short in a hard-fought campaign, and voters approved the zoning as well as $22 million in tax increment financing for the project.
Mayor Miro Weinberger led the fight to pass the measures, drawing support from the business community and nonprofits as well as members of the City Council including Knodell and Shannon.
The East District may be the most competitive race as it features two newcomers vying for the seat being vacated by Selene Colburn, a Progressive who won election to the House of Representatives in November.
The race pits former Burlington Progressive Party Chair Charles Winkleman against Democratic nominee Richard Deane. Deane is the chair of the Burlington Business Association and a supporter of the mall redevelopment project, while Winkleman is an outspoken opponent.
School board will have new members
School board members Miriam Stoll and Brian Cina — who now serves in the House of Representatives — are not seeking re-election this year, but their open seats failed to draw a crowd. Jeff Wick and Ryan McLaren are running unopposed for the district seats in the South and Central districts.
The North District seat is a contested race, with incumbent Mark Barlow facing a challenge from Helen Hossley. Hossley was involved with the PTO while her kids were in school and has helped raise money and campaign for school bonding initiatives.
Barlow, a small business owner, said he’s worked hard to advocate for Burlington’s interests at the state level and touts his role in improved transparency and fiscal stability.
