[S]outh Burlington was of two minds on taxes Tuesday.
Voters passed a short-term rental car tax to fund road maintenance, and shot down a local option that could have paved the way for the city to have the highest sales tax in the state.
The rental car tax passed relatively easily, with 66 percent of the vote. It will add a local 0.5 percent tax to the state tax of 9 percent on rental vehicles.
Opponents of the measure, namely rental car business owners and Burlington International Airport management, worry the tax will deter tourists.
Supporters, meanwhile, say it’s a small price for visitors to pay (as little as 15 cents per day) to keep the city’s roads — some of the most highly traveled roads in the state — in better shape.
In a more contentious vote, 56 percent of South Burlingtonians voted against a 1 percent increase in the city’s local option tax, to fund capital projects, including the construction of an arts center and an indoor recreation facility. The local tax would have doubled the local sales tax from 1 percent to 2 percent, driving up the total tax on goods, including the state sales tax, from 7 percent to 8 percent.
“There has to be another way of finding the money,” said Annelise Koenig, who has lived in South Burlington for 45 years.
The majority of voters, including Koenig, cast ballots against the local option tax but voted in favor of the 0.5 percent short-term car rental tax because the levy wouldn’t impact city residents directly.
“We have a fair amount of tourism and it would be a tax on outside people coming to visit instead of Vermonters,” said South Burlington resident Cory Teuscher.
Many also favored the rental tax proposal because the revenues would fund roadway maintenance.
“I just thought Vermont is very in need of that kind of help,” said Arnel Husrefovic, who voted in favor of the tax.
If the local option tax increase had passed, South Burlington would have been the first municipality in the state to adopt such a high levy. The city’s existing 1 percent local option tax brings in $3.5 million annually to fund a police station bond.
Also on the Town Meeting Day ballot were votes to approve the town’s $60 million city and $52 million school budgets, both of which passed with relatively narrow margins, earning 60 and 56 percent of the vote, respectively.
Brian Minier and Martin LaLonde were elected to the school board. Tim Barritt and David Kaufman won City Council seats.
South Burlington voters overwhelmingly supported an advisory measure urging state leaders to raise the state’s age for legal tobacco purchase from 18 to 21. A bill that would do just that is currently moving through the Legislature with support from Gov. Phil Scott’s health commissioner.
Voter turnout, however, was low — just 18 percent, according to City Clerk Donna Kinville, despite big issues being on the ballot. There were 2,641 ballots cast, compared to 3,400 or more in a typical local election.
“There were some big items on the ballot, this was affecting people’s pocketbooks. The majority is being decided by the minority,” Kinville said. “I don’t know how to get people to get interested, I really don’t know, but that’s something I’m interested in figuring out.”
