Ballot
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All ballot items were approved by voters on March 4, 2025.
1. APPROVE THE SCHOOL BUDGET FOR 2026?
Yes.
With this year's proposed budget, we expect a decrease in school property taxes of about 4%. This is largely due to increased funding from the State resulting from more equitable pupil weighting. Note: the school budget process is outside of City Council authority and accounts for about two-thirds of your property taxes. More information can be found on the Burlington school department’s website.
2. PLEDGE THE CREDIT OF THE CITY TO ISSUE A $20 MILLION BOND FOR THE CITY’S FIVE-YEAR CAPITAL PLAN AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS?
Yes.
The city regularly relies on these bonds every few years and, if approved by voters, the bond will fund much-needed capital improvement and infrastructure projects in the next few years. Democratic City Councilors worked closely with the Mayor’s Office to ensure this bonding will not negatively impact the excellent credit rating achieved by Burlington under former Mayor Weinberger’s administration. Find out more here.
3. ISSUE A $152 MILLION BOND FOR WASTEWATER AND STORMWATER UTILITY PROJECTS? & 4. ISSUE A $20 MILLION BOND FOR DRINKING WATER UTILITY PROJECTS?
Yes.
The city has demonstrated how necessary these bonds are. By investing in our water systems now, we can update our aging infrastructure, add resilience to our systems, and prepare for new housing development. These actions will become profoundly more expensive if we delay taking action.
Because of feedback from Councilors and the public, an initial price tag of well more than $200 million was brought down to the levels now on the ballot. Democratic City Councilors also negotiated for cost control measures, including by requiring a third party assessment of estimated costs before putting any projects out to bid.
Read more here.
5. CHARTER CHANGE RE: BAN ON FIREARMS IN ANY ESTABLISHMENT WITH A LIQUOR LICENSE:
Yes.
To put it simply: guns and booze do not mix. In 2014, Burlingtonians voted overwhelmingly in favor of a similar measure. Since that vote, the Legislature enacted a number of common sense gun reforms, but never took action on this charter change. Both “blue” and “red” states have enacted similar measures, and we are asking Burlington voters to restate their commitment to this public safety measure. We will then call on our State Legislature to act promptly on enacting this law to move towards increased safety and protection from gun violence in public places.
6. CHARTER CHANGE RE: REDISTRICTING BY CITY COUNCIL:
Yes.
This charter change will ask the Legislature to give the City of Burlington the authority to redraw our City Council district maps without legislative approval. Voters will still need to approve new maps but the maps will not then need to also secure Legislature approval. Burlingtonians know our city best, and we deserve to have a map that best represents our needs in City Hall without possible delay in Montpelier.
7. CHARTER CHANGE RE: CITY COUNCIL AUTHORITY TO REGULATE RENTAL NOTIFICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PERIODS:
Yes.
In every other community across Vermont, tenants and landlords need to provide each other 30-60 days notice of their intent to end a tenancy. In Burlington, this notification period is 90-120 days. This charter change would allow the City Council greater flexibility to change this notification period, either up or down, as necessary to efficiently respond to changes in our housing supply. This also allows the Council to propose additional protections or processes for notifying tenants with certain vulnerabilities, such as those who are disabled or elderly. This is in no way related to rent control.
Contact your city councilor if you have questions.