BURLINGTON — City leaders have a new power to address climate change and, frankly, they’re thrilled to use it.
Thanks to a recently passed amendment to Burlington’s charter, the City Council can now call an election to ask voters whether it should charge building owners for the amount of carbon they emit.
The policy — sometimes called “carbon pricing” — has elicited distaste nationwide. But it appears popular among city voters, 61% of whom voted in March 2021 to pass the charter change giving city leaders the new authority. That charter change sailed through the Legislature this spring and was signed by Gov. Phil Scott on April 20.
But at a Monday night meeting, city councilors did not reach for their prized new toy. Instead, they commissioned the Burlington Electric Department — the city-owned electric utility — to research further what policies it could enact to decarbonize city buildings.
In a unanimously passed resolution, councilors asked city staff to “develop a set of policy proposals … which would accelerate the decarbonization of buildings in Burlington,” and report back to them in July.
The proposals would first hone in on how new construction and major renovations could incorporate decarbonization efforts, with the goal of eliminating fossil fuel use in all buildings by 2030, according to the resolution.
But even as they asked officials to research solutions besides the new charter change, councilors made clear they wanted to also hear about policies that require voter approval in the July report.
If carbon pricing is a stick, however, electric department officials said they are handing out a lot of carrots, too. This winter, the utility rolled out a series of new and expanded incentives for Burlington residents to switch from fossil fuel-powered systems to electric.
Those rebates — which discount a host of products, including home heating systems and cars — are partially funded through a $20 million bond city voters approved in a December special election.
Monday’s resolution — which was sponsored by Councilors Jack Hanson, P-East District; Gene Bergman, P-Ward 2; and Ben Traverse, D-Ward 5 — also instructed city staff to raise awareness about climate change and decarbonization through education programs, after Councilor Ali Dieng, I-Ward 7, added that change in an amendment.
Councilors and Mayor Miro Weinberger praised the step as integral for Burlington’s “Net Zero Energy Roadmap,” a plan for the city to wean itself off fossil fuels by 2030. Councilors heard at their previous meeting that the city is not on track to meet that goal.
“This is a huge opportunity to lead on the climate crisis,” Hanson said. “It’s also an opportunity to have healthier and safer homes and businesses for Burlingtonians.”
But some city residents chimed into the meeting with concerns about the city’s timeline to decarbonize. Electric heat pumps can malfunction in extremely cold temperatures, and installing them at a rapid pace could overburden the city’s power grid, resident Lynn Wood said.
“I do completely appreciate being energy conscious. I just don’t know that we’re quite ready for it in the time frame that we’re looking to achieve these things,” she said during the meeting’s public forum period.
In defense of the resolution, Weinberger contested a concern he heard among some constituents that converting to electric could be expensive. In some cases, he said, switching would actually be cheaper than sticking with fossil fuels.
“Just because we’re pushing people to electrification,” Weinberger said, ”in an increasing number of situations, that is not increasing the cost.”
Budget plans
Also on Monday night, Weinberger laid out some initial projections for the city’s fiscal year 2023 budget. That budget — which would fund the municipal government from July 2022 to June 2023 — needs to be approved by the City Council.
At a meeting of the Board of Finance, Weinberger said the upcoming budget would be difficult to balance, given persistent inflation and a pandemic-caused decline in some of the city’s revenue streams.
Earlier this year, Weinberger and the council proposed a 5.5% municipal tax rate hike to offset those financial challenges. But in the Town Meeting Day election, city voters rejected that increase — a move the mayor said he took to heart.
Without the power to raise more money through taxes, the mayor asked all but two departments in his administration to make spending cuts, he said. The police department and the racial equity, inclusion and belonging department are not expected to make cuts.
As of now, no city department would have to lay off or furlough any employees, according to Weinberger.
But that could change based on another variable looming large as the mayor draws up a budget: contract negotiations with the four unions that represent city employees. Since those discussions are still in the early stages, the mayor said, it’s hard to tell how the final agreements could affect the city’s finances.
“The question is just, in this time of volatility, are we going to be able to bring it in where we’ve been expecting or not,” Weinberger said.
The mayor’s office plans to present its draft budget at the June 6 Board of Finance meeting. The City Council is set to vote on a final budget at its June 20 meeting.
Other business
In other business Monday night, councilors unanimously voted to:
- Expand eligibility for the city’s property tax relief program.
Some Burlington residents saw their home values soar last year when the city conducted its first property reassessment in a decade and a half. City councilors allocated $1 million in one-time federal funds to alleviate the reappraisal’s impact, but only about half of that has been spent so far, according to city Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad.
The expanded eligibility requirements will allow about 350 homeowners to draw on the roughly $500,000 remaining in the city’s tax relief fund, Schad wrote in a memo to councilors.
- Request that the body’s racial equity, inclusion and belonging committee become one of its “standing” committees, alongside other committees that tackle issues such as proposed ordinances and public safety. The committee already exists but has not yet been cemented into the council’s rules.
