Burlington voters this year passed several charter changes that were then forwarded to the state legislature for approval. Vermont Governor Phil Scott allowed some to become law, including ranked choice voting revisions, adjustments to election boundaries and polling place amendments. But the Republican governor vetoed a charter change to allow all-resident voting in the city. Mayor Miro Weinberger criticized the veto and is urging the Democratically-controlled legislature to override it during the upcoming veto session. The Democrat tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley he is confident the House and Senate will abide by the wishes of Burlington voters.
I think there's a good chance they'll override it. There are democratic super majorities of course, as you know, in both chambers and I believe they've overridden him on this issue in the past. Moreover, I just didn't think his reasoning was very compelling. He basically made an argument that election rules shouldn't differ from town to town, kind of an argument against a patchwork of regulation. But here's the thing. Our elections, first of all, are administered on a town-to-town basis. Municipalities are in charge of running them. We have two Vermont municipalities that have already shown that they can successfully run a local election in this way. Courts have weighed in to say that this is lawful and constitutional. So this sort of abstract concern about a patchwork doesn't, from my perspective, stack up to be a reason to overrule all of that and the will of almost 68% of Burlingtonians who voted for it. This is an important issue about expanding democracy, about giving people who pay taxes, have their kids in the school an ability to have an impact at the local level. People of Burlington want it and I hope the legislature will override the governor on this.
On Monday, you're bringing Acting Chief Murad's appointment before the city council for confirmation as the chief. He's basically been acting as chief for several years now. Why did you decide now is a good time to bring his confirmation before the city council?
Well, number of reasons Pat. The charter actually says this is the way our system works, is the mayor brings forward appointments on an annual basis for most of the department head positions. And that's what I'm doing next week. So it's not just the chief that is being appointed. It's about 20 other department heads as well. Moreover, you know, from my perspective I'm happy to put the chief forward again because he clearly has earned this job over, yes, three years as an acting chief. In particular since a year ago when I made the decision that we would not continue to search for a chief as we had been for close to a year. I said look we've got major public safety challenges that need to be addressed. We've got to stop looking for a new chief and having this period of instability in police department leadership. We've got to start working on these major public safety problems in a focused way. Chief Murad has done that. His team, the detectives, have been very successful holding accountable individuals for the large number of shootings that we've seen the last couple of years, arresting over 80% of the shooters. We're hopeful we're on a different trajectory there although there's still of course, we have seen a disturbing level of gun violence in the area. We, the chief has been leading a rebuilding effort that has momentum both within the officer corps as well as in these other new positions that we've created and we've got to keep that momentum going. We've been very focused on improving the downtown climate which too often last summer resulted in Burlington not being the kind of welcoming place for everyone that we want it to be. This year it's off to a much better start. And even when being very resource constrained, the chief has continued to move us forward with respect to our goals, for sort of progressive policing goals around 21st Century Policing reform. So from my perspective, he's earned the job. I'm hopeful the council understands the need to keep making progress in all these areas and confirms him on Monday,
How much of the change in the dynamics of the council from the last time you brought him forward is a factor in bringing up his appointment now?
Well, I think the chief and I have been in a consistent place throughout this tumultuous period around American public safety and public safety in Burlington. I have been clear throughout that we're very committed to President Obama's 21st century policing and ideals. And I've been very clear that we should not be pitting racial justice and policing against each other, that we need both. And that's the strategy we have pursued. There were others within the city that tried to take us in a very different direction, voted to downsizing the police department. We've had really four local elections in a row that I think have been very focused on this public safety issue. And whereas I think I and Chief Murad and some other members of Democratic caucus, coalition, have been in a consistent place I do think as a body the City Council is increasingly coming around to the perspective that we've been advocating for, you know, focused on throughout this period. So yeah I do think there's a difference. Clearly, Burlingtonians on Town Meeting Day by almost a two-to-one vote, that with respect to this police oversight vote and then with respect to the open city council seat, said public safety is a very high priority. We want the city making progress on it. We want the city moving forward and restoring public safety that we've long enjoyed here in Burlington. And I do think appointing a permanent chief is part of the work that needs to be done to get us back to where we need to be.
Mayor Weinberger, the Board of Finance has heard budget presentations from each of the departments over the last couple of months which, as far as I understand, is standard operating procedure. But what happens now?
Yes, that is our budget process. At least it's been our budget process for many years now. In this administration how we've tried to have a very transparent open budget process with these televised hearings that go through each department. Where we are now is my team is finalizing what is a challenging budget. High inflation is difficult. Given the way municipal finances work our revenues do not go up with inflation the way that our expenses do. And so this has been more and more challenging budget years. I think what people will see when I submit the budget in two weeks is that it maintains the city's commitment to rebuilding the police department, it's public safety and maintains our commitment to investing in public infrastructure and really changing the trajectory of our public infrastructure, something we've been very committed to since 2016. And I think you also see is that we are under some real financial pressures right now as the federal funds are running out and as inflation is impacting the budget. This has been a difficult budget to bring in, in a balanced way. And we are being really clear with the council and the public that looking ahead to next year some of these trends are not sustainable without new revenues and other kind of new initiatives. So we are also in this budget funding numerous new studies of operations and potential revenues and ways to fund our vehicle fleet and manage our vehicle fleet and ways to make the capital investments that are going to be needed in the years ahead, even while our ability for additional borrowing is greatly constrained because of the commitment to the new high school. That's going to be another theme of this budget is that we are facing some challenging years in the future and we've got to start planning for them now and that this budget provides some sources for that planning.
It sounds like this budget may be one of the more challenging you've had in quite a while.
In a lot of ways it really is. You know, I've been in this job 11 years now. Finances has always been a core commitment of mine. You know, I came in at a time when the budget was challenging for a very different reason. We were deeply in the red. And so it's not tough like those were. We now are in a much more secure place. We've earned back our double-A credit rating. We have millions of dollars in reserves that helped us weather the pandemic and are still there to weather unexpected events now. But it has been a volatile time since the pandemic. Our revenues have been inconsistent. Expenses have gone up dramatically like everybody else's has in this high inflationary environment. So it has been difficult to both not put an undue new burden on Burlingtonians and keep doing all the services that Burlingtonians value. So we're finding a way to do it. We're going to get this budget done. I think if we want to keep that trajectory going forward, we look at the future years, as we continue to come to the end of this federal funding period with inflation still high and with, you know, expanded public safety commitments we have to work ahead in the future years.
And you said that you're submitting your proposed budget to the city council in two weeks.
Yeah, that's the way our system works. The charter actually says the mayor shall submit a budget by June 15. So we will have it in probably on the 15th. And then the council has until the end of the month to pass it. The reason that system works is because, like you noted, we have been working with the council getting ready for this for months. They've been well briefed on what's in this budget, the major elements of it and we have a few more meetings and I am hopeful this will have strong Council support.
Burlington’s fiscal year begins on July 1st.
