City Budget Passes

The Burlington, Vermont City Council has unanimously passed the city’s fiscal year 2013 budget.

Mayor Miro Weinberger’s fiscal plan balances the budget without a tax increase.  Moody’s last week downgraded the city’s debt rating due to concerns over lawsuits regarding Burlington Telecom and the liquidity of the city’s enterprise operations. Mayor Weinberger says steps were taken in the budget to address the downgrade.

A new accounting system was used to make the budget process more transparent. Ward Seven Republican Vincent Dober, Sr.  says this is the first city budget he has supported since he’s been on the Council.

City Council President Ward 5 Democrat Joan Shannon notes that while there is no tax increase, there is a rate hike in one of the city’s enterprise services.

The fiscal 2013 budget also focuses on the city’s parks, something that Mayor Weinberger says has been neglected.

The Burlington general fund budget is about 64 million dollars.  With inclusion of enterprise programs such as Burlington Electric, water and wastewater departments, the airport and other services, the budget totals approximately 170-million dollars.