In a record turnout, South Burlington residents overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure proposing to rebuild the city’s middle and high school for a price tag of $209.6 million, by a vote of 6,514 to 1,712.
They’ve also narrowly voted to reelect incumbent Meaghan Emery to her South Burlington City Council seat. Her opponent, Matt Cota, criticized Emery for inhibiting business development in the city, while Emery criticized Cota for not prioritizing more environmentally friendly growth.
Emery won 3,940 votes and three out of the four districts, compared to Cota’s 3,866 votes. Cota said he has not decided if he will request a recount over the 74 vote difference. A recount request must be submitted to the municipal clerk within 10 days of the election and is allowed if the difference between the vote totals is 5% or less.
In the presidential primary race, Bernie Sanders won South Burlington overwhelmingly, with 3,284 votes. Joe Biden followed second, with 1,591 votes.
South Burlington’s Town Meeting Day vote results were not completed until 11:45 p.m., because the polls at the Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School ran out of ballots that could be scanned by vote tabulators. So, in an “unprecedented” move, according to City Clerk Donna Kinville, they had to transition to hand-counted ballots.
Kinville said she knew that Tuesday’s turnout would likely be high, with the contentious school bond ballot question and the presidential primary vote. She looked back through the city’s Town Meeting Day voter history records, found the highest number of ballots the city had ever used and added 2,000 to that number, totaling an order of 7,000 electronic ballots.
And they still ran out at 4 p.m. More than 8,200 residents cast ballots.
“It’s a good situation to be in,” Kinville said, referring to the high turnout. But still a bit of a headache to organize, she said.
The school bond ballot question raised concerns for many residents about its cost, despite advocates’ pleas that the current school doesn’t allow the successful education of students.
Factoring in principal payments and interest, the project would have cost taxpayers $345 million over 32 years. An owner of a South Burlington home valued at $350,000 would have paid, on average, $1,500 more in annual property taxes. A homeowner making $30,000 a year who pays under the state’s income sensitivity provision, would pay $187.81 more a year, and a homeowner making $100,000 would pay $626.03 more a year.
The ballot question became divisive. The South Burlington School Board heard strong opposition to the measure, with people threatening to leave the city if the measure passed because it would no longer be affordable to live there. South Burlington High School Principal Patrick Burke alleged in a tweet that “vote yes” signs were “disappearing” in the city.
Bridget Burkhardt, the clerk of the school board, said she was grateful the community voiced its concerns about the school bond.
Now, she said, the board will come up with a new plan. She said board members have heard the community’s concerns about cost loud and clear.
Many voters complained about the bond proposal as they left the polls.
“It’s ridiculous,” Judy Selfridge said.
Selfridge said she would rather support a proposal to renovate the school’s current structure. If the bond had passed, she would have moved out of the state, which she says is already too unaffordable.
Wes Relation also voted against the ballot measure. He’s also unconvinced the city needs to spend that much money to address the schools’ infrastructure problems.
“I think they want a castle in the sky,” Relation said. “And they don’t need it.”
Others, like Helen Linda, voted in support of the school bond because, 15 years ago, she worked in the South Burlington high school in the library, and even then the school struggled with space.
“There was not enough space for the kids or for the public for their resources or their persons,” Linda said. “There were too many opportunities for conflict.”
Now that the building is 4% over capacity, and the student population is expected to grow to 18% over capacity in the next 10 years, she thinks a new investment is essential despite the high cost.
Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, was also at the polls today connecting with constituents. As a member of the school board that passed the initial school bond proposal, LaLonde is in support of the ballot question. But he didn’t think it would pass.
“People see the price tag,” LaLonde said, “and there’s sticker shock.”
LaLonde was the sponsor of a bill that recently passed out of the House Education Committee to study the infrastructure needs of Vermont schools, as many in the state are becoming too old to function. At the same time, many other Vermont communities are also taking up similar, but much smaller, bond ballot questions that would help rejuvenate their schools’ infrastructure.
Because of this, LaLonde said the state is at a tipping point — not many can agree on where to find funding within Vermont to solve this growing problem. Which is why, he hopes, a solution may come from the federal government.
“Hopefully something will happen at the federal level. They have been kicking around multi-hundred-billion dollar infrastructure plans,” LaLonde said. “I’m not holding my breath on that either.”
