[B]URLINGTON — City voters overwhelmingly supported a $70 million bond to renovate their high school and a $30 million bond to repair the city’s stormwater and wastewater systems.
The wastewater bond passed with 92 percent of the vote, and the high school bond passed with 74 percent of the vote. The votes needed a simple majority to succeed.
The $70 million high school bond would significantly renovate the school, addressing deferred maintenance and accessibility issues for students with disabilities, and providing an overall upgrade to the facility.
Superintendent Yaw Obeng said the district was thankful for voter support. He said the voters engaged with district before the vote by attending tours of the high school.
“We had the opportunity to have some great dialogue,” he said. “I always had confidence in the community, if given the opportunity to hear the rationale around the why, that they would come forward and support the students of Burlington.”
Burlington High School opened in 1964, and its plumbing, heating system, electrical system and technology are outdated.
Board Chair Clare Wool said in a statement that future students and the community at large will benefit from the vote.
“This vote is a necessary, crucial and long overdue step towards improving the dilapidated condition of the high school,” she said. “Our vote is a collective affirmation of Burlington’s commitment to a safe, accessible and leading edge center for learning.”
Obeng said that the real work toward building a new high school starts now.
Planning and designing the building will be a year-and-a-half-long process that will involve input from Queen City residents. Obeng said the new high school will be a building that should be used by the community.
“There’s a good need for that, if we have the right kinds of facilities, people will utilize them,” he said.
The project is set to break ground in 2020 and be completed in 2021 or 2022. The high school’s layout will allow it to stay open during construction.
A Burlington household assessed at $250,000 will be paying $302 more a year in education tax because of the project in 2028.
Passage of the bond comes amid a difficult fall for the school district. Guidance counselor Mario Macias was suspended after the Agency of Education brought licensing charges against him, censorship of the Burlington High School student-run newspaper drew headlines, and the district released a survey showing a serious gap between its leadership and staff.
Brittney Sherman, 29, who lives in the city’s South End, voted for the bond.
“I went to Burlington High School and it definitely needs to be updated,” she said.
Ashley Laporte, 30, said she voted for the bond to support education. She went to high school in Stowe and said she wanted students to get a quality education, like she did.
“I don’t have kids in the school system, but any dollar that goes to more sustainable infrastructure for education in Vermont, the better,” she said.
Other voters, however, expressed concerns about the cost of the project and the tax increase it will bring.
Virginia Couture, 70, who lives in the New North End, said that financial issues were her top issue in voting and voted against the high school bond.
“It’s too much money with little explanation,” she said. “Every year it’s money, money, money, and where does it go?”
Wastewater/stormwater bond
Approval of the wastewater bond comes after four unexpected discharges of partially treated stormwater and wastewater into Lake Champlain this summer.
The city will improve the wastewater treatment plants, pump stations, stormwater outfalls and pipes. Upgrades on the system are set to start this winter.
The average Burlington family will pay $5 a month more on their water bills after five years to pay for the upgrades. Since tax-exempt institutions pay water bills, they will contribute to funding these upgrades.
William Northup, 61, said that he thinks cleaning up the state’s waterways should be the top priority for the Legislature in its upcoming session. He voted for the wastewater bond.
“We have beautiful parks on the water here in the South End,” he said. “I think the system is antiquated and needs attention.”
South Burlington Community Center
South Burlington voters supported all four ballot measures necessary to approve the building of a $21.8 million community center on Market Street. The community center will feature a library, city hall and senior center.
More than 70 percent of voters supported the first ballot item, which authorized the city to take on the necessary debt to fund the project. The other three ballot items passed with even wider margins, city manager Kevin Dorn said.