ESSEX JUNCTION — There’s a new city in town.
After more than a century bound to the town of Essex, and decades of debate over how to justly tax the residents of both communities, the former Village of Essex Junction on Friday became Vermont’s 10th city — officially separate from the rest of the town.
By 5:30 p.m. that day, the patio at 1 Main St. in the city’s Five Corners intersection had filled with hundreds of people gathering to celebrate their own, early Independence Day. There was free food, bounce houses for children and plenty of music, including — quite appropriately — Starship’s 1985 classic, “We Built this City.”
Volunteers handed out all shapes and sizes of merchandise bearing that song’s title, including colorful T-shirts, tote bags, car magnets and temporary tattoos.
Listening to the music and holding a new tote bag was Jennifer Coulter, who grew up in Essex Junction, moved away for college, then came back in 2007. Separation from the town of Essex “was a long time coming,” she said.
“People tried for a long time to bring the town and village together and, unfortunately, it wasn’t able to work out,” Coulter said. “I think it was time for us to have autonomy.”
Essex Junction voters overwhelmingly passed a charter change in November to form an independent city, sending the measure to Montpelier for approval by the Legislature and Gov. Phil Scott. Previous efforts to merge the village and town had failed.
Scott signed the charter change in late April, and it took effect Friday.
At issue in the debate over whether to merge or separate the town and former village was, largely, taxation. Property owners in the city pay taxes to both the city and town governments, supporting services in both. But property owners in the town pay taxes only to the town government, meaning city property owners pay higher taxes.
Officials in the former village have said separation will ease the tax burden on city residents while eliminating the duplication of some municipal services.
Per the charter change, the city and town will continue to share some services until July 2023. Essex Junction will continue to collect taxes on the town’s behalf and pay them to the town in two final installments: one on Oct. 15, and the other on April 15, 2023.
One notable change that took effect Friday: the city’s governing body, previously known as the “Board of Trustees,” became the “City Council.”
Several local and state officials addressed the crowd at the celebration Friday, including Andrew Brown, president of the newly-christened Essex Junction City Council.
Brown thanked “the village trustees and community members who came here before all of us,” noting that the process to achieve separation was long and, at times, difficult.
“If you would have told me 10 years ago,” he said, “that we, as a community, would be where we are today, I would have thought you were all nuts. And yet we are.”
Coulter said she thinks that separation will ease long-standing tension between officials in the city and town. Standing next to her was Denize Barewicz, who has lived in Essex Junction since 1978 and said that, for years, she had supported a merger.
“But now that we are a city, I accept it,” Barewicz said. “I love this place.”
Toward the tail-end of the festivities Friday, attendees walked out into the middle of the Five Corners intersection and posed for a group photo.
Reps. Lori Houghton and Karen Dolan, Democrats who represent Essex Junction and sponsored the charter change bill, H. 491, also spoke at the celebration. The two lawmakers challenged residents to stay engaged in local government by attending city meetings, joining government committees and supporting future community events.
“Our work doesn’t end with the creation of an independent city,” Houghton said. “Our work begins again tomorrow to make the City of Essex Junction the best place to live in the state of Vermont.”