The Burlington City Council unanimously approved the city’s fiscal year 2022 budget Monday night, and both Democrats and Progressives recognized that this year’s budget process was much less contentious compared to last year’s.
Last summer, the council was entrenched in conversations about what to do with the Burlington Police Department’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year. Following mass protests ignited by police killings of Black men, residents in the Queen City and citizens from across the country were calling for police budgets to be slashed.
The council eventually passed a budget that cut officer staffing by 30% through attrition to reallocate money to fund racial justice initiatives. This came while the city was also balancing an $8.2 million revenue shortfall caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thanks to federal aid and a well-resourced reserve fund, the city is funding a 2022 fiscal year budget that returns to pre-pandemic spending levels. The BPD attrition funds are also now being reallocated to new positions in the city.
Councilor Jane Stromberg, P-Ward 8, said she thought this year’s budget configuration was much more collaborative than the 2021 process.
“Last year, I obviously wasn’t too pleased with mostly the process and some of the outcomes of the budget,” she said. “This year, I remember talking to the mayor on the phone and just having a very productive verbal agreement that we are going to be working together in this process.”
Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, highlighted how the city was able to resurface from the pandemic without severe financial consequences. No city employees were laid off, and no city programs were cut due to Covid-19 impacts, she said.
“This year’s budget stands in sharp contrast to last year,” Paul said. “While we have always endeavored to make the budget process an opening and engaging process, this year’s budget is one built on the recognition of broad community values in the wake of the past year.”
The fiscal year 2022 budget saw an 11% increase in spending compared to this year’s budget. The 2022 budget amounts to $87.3 million — an $8.8 million increase from 2021’s budget of $78.5 million.
The 2022 budget designates $825,000 to 10 community service officer positions within the Burlington Police Department, which are new civilian, unarmed roles funded through officer attrition savings.
BPD savings are also funding a community support liaison position, two new park rangers and $400,000 for expanded mental health services.
The city also plans to spend $290,000 to raise every city employee’s pay to meet the liveable wage ordinance. The budget also includes $150,000 to pay board and commission members for their service.
Another $1 million is going toward the Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Department to fund five new positions. And $2 million is being budgeted to continue the green stimulus rebate program, to incentivize Burlingtonians to purchase and install more environmentally friendly heat pumps and electric vehicles.
The city plans to receive a total of $27 million in federal pandemic-related aid through the American Rescue Plan Act. Of those funds, $10 million will be used to fill in revenue losses brought on by the pandemic in the 2022 budget.
The rest of the American Rescue Plan Act funding, which has to be budgeted and spent by 2026, will be designated to other city projects and needs in the coming months through “significant public engagement,” according to the mayor’s office.
The council also approved the new $0.6704 municipal tax rate, down from $0.9002 in 2021, to ensure that property taxes remain revenue neutral as dictated by the city’s charter since home values rose considerably this year in the citywide reappraisal.
The council also unanimously passed a new ordinance that would require all new buildings built in the city to utilize heating systems that do not rely on fossil fuels and cover at least 85% of the building’s heating load.
The body unanimously passed another new ordinance that would require any new capital project in the city to designate 1% of the project’s budget to a city public art fund to encourage the development of more community artwork.
