Mayor Miro Weinberger on Monday proposed a 10% budget cut to the Burlington Police Department for the upcoming fiscal year, even as residents called for more significant cuts to the department.
Weinberger is proposing decreasing the number of officers from the city’s cap of 105 to 93, which is the current size of the force. Under the proposal, the department’s budget will be cut by $1.9 million for the next fiscal year, with $1.1 million coming from expense cuts and $800,000 reallocated to other departments.
Over 1,000 people signed up to speak at the Burlington City Council meeting Monday, supporting the demands of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. The alliance is calling for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers and the removal of officers from schools, among other demands.
The public forum started just after 7:30 p.m., and it is unclear how long it would last. At 10:30 p.m., after three hours of public comment, 967 people remained in the forum.
“My life matters, and I hope the council is listening to these demands, and action steps are taken,” resident Richard Williams, who is black, said Monday.
Ashley Laporte said the council should support the demands of the alliance and said she was afraid to raise her future black children in the state.
“Please read those demands clearly, understand that there are people who have been working in this space for years who understand what the needs of communities of color are because they are the communities of color we are looking to serve,” she said.
The reallocated $800,000 includes moving parking enforcement to the city’s Department of Public Works and reassigning the department’s crime analyst to the city’s Innovation and Technology Department.
Under the proposed budget, the city will allocate $300,000 to a new fund for racial equity and police transformation. The fund will help fund a second position in the city’s Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and expand “on street” social services to shift mental health calls from police to social workers.
The remaining $800,000 in expense reductions are pointed toward reducing the deficit caused by Covid-19. The city will work with the police commission to study whether these cuts should become permanent, Weinberger said.
“I think it would be wrong to commit to permanent cuts to the police department without a deliberative process informed by data and independent professional analysis,” he said. “I am unwilling to make deeper cuts until we do that hard work.”
Weinberger also announced that he was preparing to declare racism a public health emergency, called for an overhaul to the Vermont Police Academy, and said he believed the council should consider a charter change that would give the mayor disciplinary authority over the department. The city’s police chief currently controls disciplinary decisions.
In a press conference Monday, Mark Hughes, the coordinator of the Racial Justice Alliance and the director of Justice for All, called for Weinberger to “make a moral statement by prioritizing the eradication of systemic racism in the creation of the budget.”
The alliance is calling for a series of steps to promote racial equity, including restructuring public safety in the city, creating a Cultural Empowerment Community Collective, establishing an Office of Equal Opportunity and increasing funding for the city’s Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging function.
The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance met with Weinberger last week but has not heard from him for a follow-up meeting, Hughes said. He said the City Council should not approve Weinberger’s budget unless it is a moral budget.
“If he doesn’t deliver a moral budget, you should reject it,” Hughes said. “We ask you to urge the mayor to keep his commitments and finish the work that he started with us, so that we can arrive at an option that is best for the city of Burlington.”
The alliance is also calling for the reduction of uniformed officers by 30%, removing officers from schools and firing Officers Jason Bellavance, Cory Campbell and Joe Corrow, all of whom are named in police brutality lawsuits filed by black men.
The alliance also requested Weinberger declare racism a citywide health crisis and that the City Council create a task force to consider an apology and a proposal for reparations for the role the city played in slavery.
During the Board of Finance meeting, Councilor Brian Pine, P-Ward 3, asked if the city had studied possible further cuts, taking into account that calls that currently go to the police department would go elsewhere.
Acting Police Chief Jon Murad said Burlington officers had higher call volumes than elsewhere in the state, and said he “unequivocally” thought future cuts would imperil public safety.
“I believe that would put public safety at risk based on what we are currently asked to do,” he said. “If you wish to develop viable alternative capacities, you have to develop those and actually witness that they are working and being stood up before you can withdraw the only thing that is responding to those.”
Despite calls from the public to remove officers from schools, Weinberger said that the budget keeps officers in schools, as the school district requested that officers remain.
Overall Budget
The city is anticipating a $10 million, or 16%, decrease in revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic for fiscal year 2021. The Board of Finance discussed the city budget at its Monday evening meeting.
The pandemic has caused serious financial challenges for the city, Weinberger said. He said the city would use reserve funds and budget cuts to make up the revenue gap caused by the pandemic.
The proposed budget does not lay off or furlough any city employees, instead cutting non-personnel budget lines and extending vacancies.
City employees will continue to receive negotiated increases, with the exception of employees who make over $100,000 a year. Weinberger, who made $111,998 in fiscal year 2020, is taking a 10% pay cut.
City employee unions had pushed back against an earlier request from Weinberger to reopen their contracts, and held a rally last week asking Weinberger to promise that no city employees would lose their jobs due to budget cuts.
The budget also does not implement tax increases supported by voters in March, delaying for a year an increase to the Housing Trust Fund and the public safety tax increase to fund an ambulance for the New North End.
The City Council is expected to vote on the budget at its next meeting, which is scheduled for June 29, Weinberger said.
