Updated at 9:02 p.m.
Burlington voters on Tuesday resoundingly approved two bond requests totalling $172 million to make critical improvements to the city’s wastewater, stormwater and drinking water systems.
They also overwhelmingly voted in favor of charter changes that would ban guns from places that sell alcohol and give city officials more influence over eviction notices. The city’s school budget also cleared easily with 73% of the vote.
The larger of the two infrastructure bonds — $152 million — would pay to renovate and consolidate the wastewater management system at the city’s main treatment plant. A smaller $20 million bond item was designated to fund infrastructure repairs to the city’s drinking water system. The City Council approved both items in January.
Eight-one percent of voters, or 7,744 people, cast “yes” votes on the wastewater bond and 84% approved the drinking water one, according to initial city results Tuesday night.
Together the bond items could raise water rates by 89% between 2025 and 2030, over a series of annual increases.
Both systems are aging and face a high likelihood of failure, according to city officials. The improvements would help prevent runoff and reduce pollution in Lake Champlain, as well as prepare the city to be able to accommodate about 5,000 new housing units.
At a recent council meeting, Progressive Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak warned that deferring the work would only make the projects more expensive in the long run.
On Tuesday night Mulvaney-Stanak reiterated that the bonds are “crucial” for the city to meet housing, climate and safety goals.
“My administration takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of City resources, and our work to make Burlington an affordable community will continue well into the future,” she said in a statement.
Alyssana Lasek, a University of Vermont student from Charlotte, said she felt it was crucial to weigh in on the water infrastructure bonds. “Even if it is expensive it is really important to address,” said Lasek, who brought her Shih Tzu Mickey with her to cast her vote at the Fletcher Free Library. “I plan on staying in Vermont and hope to go to UVM Medical School, so there is some concern about affordability but I think that the changes are worth it and important.”
Another voter, Diana Eberheart, also supported the measure, saying, “The longer they delay stuff and postpone repair, the more expensive it will be to do anything.”
Earlier estimates for the work exceeded $200 million, but city officials managed to lower the price tag by deferring some aspects of the project. This included shaving off $14 million for the relocation of a sewage pipe under the Winooski River. The pipe burst during the July 2023 flooding, dumping untreated wastewater into the river and lake.
Eviction notice
City voters passed a proposed charter change to give the City Council more power in determining how much notice a landlord must give before ending a tenant’s lease or raising rent.
Among those who came out to the polls Tuesday, 65%, or 6,115 people, voted in favor of the measure, according to city results.
The charter change, which comes amid a housing crisis and a city vacancy rate hovering at around 2%, would allow the council to decide new notice periods for lease terminations, with potential special requirements for those who are disproportionately affected, such as older adults, people with disabilities or low-income renters.
The city charter currently requires landlords to provide 90 to 120 days of notice to terminate leases in certain narrowly defined circumstances. The proposed change would give the City Council broader leeway to determine eviction timelines.
Under current law, any time Burlington wants to change the notice period for a certain kind of eviction, it needs to get approval from the Legislature and the governor. The change would give the City Council authority to shift rental notice periods at the local level, without needing to seek the greenlight from the state for every change.
But as with all charter changes, the measure itself still needs approval from state lawmakers and the governor.
Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, a political science student at UVM, said she specifically wanted to cast her vote in favor of the eviction ballot item. “As a student who pays my own rent, the focus on low income communities that they’re putting in that change to the charter was interesting to me and made me come out to vote,” she said.
Guns in bars
For the second time in just over a decade, Burlington voters passed a charter change banning guns from city establishments that sell alcohol. The measure sailed through with 87% of voters approving it.
Proposed by the City Council last year after a fatal shooting outside the Church Street bar Red Square, the language mirrors what voters approved in 2014. It would prohibit people from carrying or possessing a firearm “in any building or on any real property or parking area under the ownership or control of an establishment licensed to serve alcohol on its premises,” according to the ballot language.
Gunfire incidents in the city have increased by 300% since 2019, according to annual data from the police department.
The proposed change would not apply to those who carry permitted weapons for their work, such as law enforcement officers, members of the armed forces or the Vermont National Guard.
Penalties for violation could include criminal conviction or a civil violation punishable by a fine and forfeiture of the weapon.
The measure would require approval from the state Legislature, which stymied Burlington’s earlier attempt — lawmakers declined to act on the city’s 2014 charter change proposal.
“For the second time in recent history, Burlington voters have made clear their support for this important policy change,” Mulvaney-Stanak said in a statement. “My administration will advocate for the legislature to respect the will of the voters and adopt this charter change.”
Corey McDonald and Olivia Gieger contributed reporting.
