The Burlington, Vermont City Council has approved putting a question on the November ballot asking city residents to approve bonding to build a new high school and technical center.
Burlington closed its high school and technical center in 2020 due to high levels of PCBs. Students have been attending classes in a converted downtown former Macy’s Department store. The school board this summer chose a design and last week approved language for a capital bond. Monday night District Superintendent Tom Flanagan formally presented the proposal to the city council.
“The BHS/BTC 2025 Project provides an amazing opportunity for generations to come and it is also a necessity. Our development team recommended strongly that we remediate and remove the old buildings before constructing the new building. This approach allows us to build the best school at the lowest cost. We’re very mindful of the tax impact and have been doing everything possible to reduce this impact. We have already reduced the bond request by $45 million dollars.”
North District Independent Mark Barlow, who moved the council motion to place the question on the November ballot, emphasized his support for the new school and cost reduction efforts.
“Even before the PCB problems we knew we had a need to address tens of millions in major systems replacements and maintenance needs. Despite this project being a must-do I continue to worry about affordability for Burlington and feel strongly that Burlington taxpayers shouldn’t have to bear the full cost. So I appreciate the work that’s been done on the Memorandum of Understanding to make sure that we’re going to keep finding alternative funding sources that don’t burden Burlington taxpayers.”
Ward 5 Democrat Ben Traverse added that a memo of understanding being crafted between the city administration and school district establishes that the bond request is the highest amount the school district will request.
“My understanding is that memo will commit to this $165 million bond being a ceiling. My expectation is that the district will not be coming back asking for more than the $165 million that we will be voting to put on the ballot. The other aspect of this is that you all actively committing in partnership with the mayor and hopefully with the city council to find alternative funding resources.”
Councilors unanimously passed the motion to place on the November 8th ballot an authorization to bond a maximum of $165 million for the construction of the new high school and technical center.
Early Saturday morning the 20th gunfire incident of the year occurred in Burlington and the acting police chief formally asked the Vermont State Police to help patrol the downtown area. Near the end of Monday’s City Council meeting two Progressive councilors criticized the move, including Ward 8’s Ali House, a social worker by trade.
“Adding more police officers to our streets is not going to solve the root causes of the issues that are facing our community and we deserve so much better than a fruitless attempt at damage control.”
