 Hello everyone and welcome to the first installment of town meeting day 2023 election coverage by town meeting TV Tonight's presentation is part of a series of forums. We're bringing you in advance of town meeting day on March 7 town meeting TV hosts forums and with all of our candidates and covers all items on the ballot so that You can learn about What is on your ballot before you head to the polls and make informed decisions now tonight? I'm joined by South Burlington City Manager Jesse Baker Community Development Director Alana Blanchard as well as public work to Public Works Director Tom DiPetro and they will be giving a presentation on South Burlington's budget and Ballot items so If you're tuning in live tonight, we welcome your questions at 802-862-3966 Feel free to call in and we'll prioritize prioritize those questions for you and What you can watch town meeting TV on Comcast channel 1087 Burlington telecom 17 and 217 as well as on our YouTube channel YouTube comm slash town meeting TV with that being said we can go ahead and get started and Jesse I'll let you take it away. Great. Thank you so much for having us tonight This is such a huge opportunity for us to talk with your viewers and talk with our residents about what they'll see on time Meeting Day this year. We do have a lot on the South Burlington town meeting day ballot this year So we're going to try to fly through a bunch of content But also really encourage any questions that our community members may want to pose or you would like to pose So tonight I have the privilege of talking about the FY 24 municipal budget But really that budget is developed in partnership with the leadership team with my amazing colleagues and of course with the city council Ultimately, this is the budget they have approved to send to the voters So I'm going to talk through the city budget and then we're going to learn a little about the Bartlett Bay wastewater treatment Improvement bond vote and then the tax increment financing bond vote We do have a ton of information on our website. That's at our South Burlington vt. Gov slash TMD town meeting day 2023 Website so if folks are watching this later and really want to dive into all the line item budgets They can explore at that site and find all the information So to dive right into our FY 24 budget, this is the budget that the voters Will vote on on town meeting day It's it's Specifically tonight. I'm going to be talking about the general fund budget Which is the the dollars that support municipal operations public safety police fire EM that EMT services public works administration community development recreation libraries We have tried to between the leadership team and council achieve Several really important goals through this budget One as we all know from living in households and living in families right now We as society are facing really significant inflation rates cost of living increases that obviously is reflected in our expenses as well We're trying to be sensitive to that by presenting a two-year budget to the council and to the voters Having said that we are a growing community and we do have some significant operational needs So this budget achieves adding Park maintenance person we heard through COVID that folks spent a lot of time in our parks and open spaces And we really need to make sure those are maintained to the standard that our community is expecting We also know that we need to be incrementally investing in our capital improvement plan to really make sure that we're investing in our infrastructure We can maintain our infrastructure well And we continue that legacy over time. We are also investing in a GIS data analyst position to make sure That we are making data-driven decisions We're growing into quite a city and we have a lot of data available We want to be able to use that data to make decisions With this budget, we're also investing pretty heavily in public safety So we're restoring funding for a number of public safety positions that during the lean COVID years We had to reduce to really make that budget work for the taxpayers during those lean years So with this budget, we are restoring funding for a police officer in a deputy chief position Within our police department. We are also restoring funding for one fire fighter EMT As well as starting big news is starting January 1st, 2024 Stepping up standing up a second ambulance in the city of South Burlington Right now we only run one ambulance at a time and about 23% of the time people call 911 in South Burlington Another entity is responding to that call because we don't have the folks to do it So with all of that here are the big exciting numbers Lots of numbers on this screen. So I'll highlight the important ones To invest in those things as a city. We are increasing the tax rate by 5.75 percent or about two and a half pennies on the tax rate What that means is about a seventy eight dollar increase for the average condo owner and about a hundred and seventeen dollar increase for the average Homeowner so with that increase we are achieving those goals for the community that I previously mentioned and really investing in that core municipal government I do want to call out our community did a huge amount of work in the last year to adopt its first-ever climate action plan The council has been very intentional about this priority while there is not funding to implement that plan in this budget We still do have two million dollars of ARPA funding remaining And there are conversations happening at the council level to invest all or some of that funding in implementing our climate action plan And then finally I do want to mention and you'll hear much more about this from Tom Our utility rate increases each of our utilities that we operate our stormwater utility wastewater water Utility and water utility are also seeing rate increases this year Those are primarily driven by the need to invest in our capital projects Both our Bartlett Bay wastewater treatment bond vote that Tom will talk about as well as upcoming water capacity on that side of the utility So that's your municipal budget for FY 24 in South Burlington With that it's my honor to turn it over to Tom DiPietro He is our new this budget season public works director for the city of South Burlington Although has been in South Burlington for a decade and a half and is really the expert in all things Infrastructure in our community and he will take it from here. Thank you Jesse Yes, so on the ballot Voters will be asked if they support a thirty three point eight million dollar bond vote for upgrade of the Bartlett Bay Wastewater treatment facility and some related infrastructure. There are three components to this first is reconstruction of the facility itself The second component is improvements to help handle the solids that are generated through the wastewater treatment process and then Finally refurbishment and upgrade of four pump stations throughout the city. So I'm going to talk a little bit about each of those So the major part of this is the treatment facility upgrade We have two wastewater treatment facilities in South Burlington Bartlett Bay and Airport Parkway The Bartlett Bay facility was first constructed in 1970. It saw its last upgrade in 1999 These facilities are designed to have a design life about 50 years with upgrades every 20 to 30 years And the existing plant is certainly showing its age. There's some kind of wear and tear on the facility Some of our systems are still original like our head works Screening filtering system. Those are original to the first plant in 1970 was first constructed So that's sort of opportunity to put new technology and to improve treatment processes as well This is a critical piece of core government for the city is wastewater treatment And so this helps also protect our waterways and Lake Champlain Part two are to the second component is the solids that are generated So in the wastewater treatment process solids kind of settle out of the water and those are collected in South Burlington the solids collected at the Bartlett Bay plant get trucked to our other facility where they go through an additional treatment process To create a class a biosolid that can be beneficially reused in certain instances We are at capacity there without getting too technical We have to sort of weigh sort of our waste activated sludge that comes from the Bartlett Bay plant with the volatile solids the more active Biologically active sludge at the Airport Parkway plant We have some challenges right now at our facility. It was designed the Airport Parkway facility I was designed to manage this but one of our clarifiers was sort of it was designed out for Cash reasons for cost reasons. So we'd like to add that in now It's been over a decade and we feel the need we're kind of feeling it to achieve that capacity And then the last portion or the third portion of this is for pump stations that are within the sewer shed Or that drain to the Bartlett Bay treatment facility so These facilities typically have a design life of about 25 years And these four that we're talking about have been in service for over 50 years And so we've done upgrades along the way, but it's really time to take a hard look and replace the components in them And then includes the pumps and the force mains the pipes that lead out of them to the plant as well Critically important the four that we've identified as the greatest need here are located all of them within 250 feet of Lake Champlain So we certainly don't want to see any failures at these pump stations not a lot of room for error So, you know our staff checks on these daily But still it's it's time for upgrades and new pumps and things like that. So that's that's the last piece of the three Talking about sort of how the costs for that 33.8 million dollar bond break down on the upper right of this slide You'll be able to see first the cost of the wastewater treatment facility. It's about 22 million We estimate that the solids handling improvements are about 1.8 and then refurbishment reconstruction of those pump stations is about four and a half About five million dollars worth of engineering over those three components In various permitting and related costs for the project brings us to our total of about 33.8 million which is the bond vote amount What this does to our rates so just support this project it means that our wastewater rates would go up six and three-quarter percent each year over the next four years And that is about a seventy one dollar increase in the fourth year So over four years it'll be a total of seventy one dollars over kind of what our normal rate creases have been over the last decade I'll also note that South Brunken has the lowest wastewater rates in the state of Vermont We called around and got data in fiscal year 22 and you can see us on the bottom there all the way on the right Project schedule wise so we have been working with our city council and city attorney to get bond documents together Now we're out doing these public informational meetings. We've got more coming up, which I'm sure we'll talk about The bond vote in March and then moving forward We'll get into the design phase of all these components final design And then we hope to bid this in summer 24 and start construction later in 2024 Finish up by 2026 and then the city would see its first bond payment in 2027 Keep charging ahead. Yeah before we charge ahead. I'll just remind folks anybody who's watching live We do welcome your questions, and you can call us at 802862 3966 and with that being said I'll turn it over to Alana to talk about the tiff bond vote. That's on the ballot. Thank you so the city of South Brunington has a our last Vote or for our last projects so I wanted to show you where our tiff district is and And give you some information about tax increment financing. This is a very strong economic development tool that the state has designated to be able to be used in South Burlington and so This allows us to build projects that benefit our vision for a downtown when I say are I mean the community vision for a downtown that the residents and businesses have been working on for over 40 years or longer And so the district is bounded on the west by Dorset Street on the east by Heinsberg Road the north by Williston Road and Includes to the south San Remo Drive it's about a hundred acres and The way that this economic development tool works Is that when that boundary was set in 2012? The the land within that area All the taxes on the land that existed at that time the buildings that existed at that time Continues to go to where they normally would go so when the municipal tax rate is applied against that land and the State Education Fund tax rate or the school rate is applied against that land It continues to go to the city and to the state Ed fund But over time as land develops in response to the investments that the city has made within that area using Tiff district financing That growth in land value taxes applied against that growth the city gets to keep 75 percent of it to fund projects that the voters have approved So next slide 75 percent goes into the Tiff district fund and then 25 percent of that growth still goes to the State Ed fund and to the city to use the same way that we would use the Existing revenues that are coming from the growth that was there the existing land Development that was there in 2012 So Next slide So there are four projects that are proposed to be funded using this these revenues These include the east-west crossing, which is a walk bike bridge over i-89 It starts at the Staples Plaza. It crosses over i-89 just south of the Cloverleaf interchange And then connects back to Williston Road by the CVS. It will also have a spur that connects to the University Mall The city has a very large federal grant about nine point eight million dollars that will go towards this project and then There the bond vote that is on the ballot article four has 4.3 million that will be that will go towards this project The Williston Road streetscape, which is between Dorset Street and Al's french fries Only on the south side of the road Also has a federal grant about 800,000 Half of it is eligible to be funded with Tiff district financing and so that is on this ballot as well Garden Street is a third project on the ballot that is actually even though it's called Garden Street is the Williston Road intersections so Midas White Street and Williston Road right by Al's french fries over to Patchin Road Hinesburg Road and Williston Road by Gracie's and so these two intersections are addressed as part of this project to add transportation traffic Pedestrian and bicycle capacity to this segment and and really importantly, and I'll show you this I'm sorry really importantly, and I don't have it at the moment But really significantly it will realign the intersection At Al's french fries so that Midas and White Street meet in a T intersection And there will be crossings on all four sides of the intersection and then the last project that would be funded With this bond vote would be city center park phase 2 so city center park already exists And that was a tip district project and then this phase will Connect city center park to market Street and Garden Street via a shared use path And that shared use path will include a boardwalk over the wetlands So if I couldn't just jump in for a quick minute I think that what what is really Powerful about these four projects that a lot has been working to move forward is that it creates that connectivity throughout our city center And our downtown and really focuses on the communities Bike and pedestrian goals our climate change goals really creating that walkable downtown and the investment in all four of these Projects is what allows that kind of loop connectivity to happen around our city center Yeah, and so we will end up with a continuous bicycle pedestrian connection From the west side to the east side on Williston Road, which is a really big change for our downtown And so together these projects are a total bond amount of 15 million eighty six thousand four hundred and thirty dollars and each of these projects This includes only the tip district financed portion of these projects So they also have federal funding coming into them and small amounts of city funding And so, you know, I think what's really important about these projects is that they rely on future development to finance These bonds or this bond so this shows a project that has been in the press a lot lately catamount run And that's shown in red and then the purple buildings some of them have been built and two of them have not been built And so two of the built purple buildings that are under construction, but not yet occupied combined with the red buildings equal 475 units and so that's a tremendous amount of growth that will be completed by 20 excuse me 2026 so just you know right around the corner and that Adds a tremendous amount of value to the tip district and so that because the new growth is used to To generate tax revenues those revenues are allow us to service the tip district With these revenues and not to raise property tax values Which is a really important point about to district financing And I think one of the things that might be interesting to your viewers and it certainly is to our residents About this pipeline development is that reflected here, especially in catamount run and the purple Buildings are a huge investment from our institutional partners So both you VMMC and the University of Vermont have invested in helping our our development partners grow our housing in Our city center and that that vote of confidence in what we're doing in city center What we're doing in our downtown is really is really what is enabling us to move forward with this vision for our city center That's true And so the next slide Oh, we can re-underline this so I guess that will not increase the property tax rate And that's because this is this bond vote article four is a tip district financing bond vote So this is shows you what the question looks like on the ballot, although I would Caution if you are a voter don't expect it to necessarily look like that We've had ballots come back with a question that was nicely spaced out and it comes back as one paragraph so So it but all four Projects are part of one question and the total amount is 14 million four hundred and thirty thousand sixty two dollars This is the last the last These this will complete the tip district financing Projects that the city has been authorized to undertake Thank you So we also want to highlight This is a lot of information a lot of information that realizes many community goals that South Burlington has been working on for decades But we also know it's a lot for voters to take in so while this is a great event And we're so thankful to tell me TV for hosting us and we will link it on our website And it will be available to everybody we do want to call out that there is Several other opportunities to hear from the three of us and hear from other city partners about what is on the ballot So first the next one will be our Love your city event on Valentine's Day come with your sweetie before your dinner reservations from 6 to 7 p.m. In room 301 at City Hall, which is also in our downtown Tiff district And learn about these bond votes and what's on the ballot February 28th, we will have another informational session Same time and same place and then on March 6th the night before town meeting like most communities We do an annual pre town meeting day public presentation and public hearing With the school district so folks can learn right before town meeting About all those details on the ballot and then of course as with all vermont towns polls are open 7 to 7 on march 7th and we really Encourage our residents to get out and vote and have their their voices heard That's what we want to share today. We're happy to dive in deeper to any one of these things. We've been spending a lot of time on it so Well, thank you very much for your presentation on the budget the Tiff votes and the wastewater treatment facilities I suppose since we have a little bit of extra time if there's anything that Um The three of you would like to dive deeper in um into since we do have about uh, we we have some extra time So if there's anything you kind of scripted past, um, other than that, um, we can um wrap it up Well, I I Would open it up to my colleagues here to share anything that they would like to share I think, um, again, I'll I'll start where I started which is um, this This is a huge ask of our community. There's a lot on the ballot A lot of the the leadership team has spent a huge amount of time developing it But also our city council and our committees Have spent a lot of time over decades envisioning what we want our community to be And I think that the product on this ballot, you know that investment in core municipal services through public safety And public infrastructure that investment in our wastewater treatment plant that really allows us to meet our Our our goals of having a clean lake Champlain of not disturbing the environment more than we need to Considering that we are a growing community is really critical to be to maintaining that Growing community and then of course our TIF district that has been a huge part of our conversation South Burlington has wanted a downtown a city center for years for decades And we are seeing it happen. You know, we have we have construction very actively going on around our library and senior center In city hall and in uh in our downtown and we would really love to see that connectivity that bike ped infrastructure Continue and really put the cap on that final project Um, so we're thankful for the voters and the council and our community for spending so much time with us on this Effort and we look forward to hearing what they say on tell meaning day. What what else did I miss guys? What else do we want to highlight? I have one thing I'd like to add that and you maybe think of it Emily So the numbers I presented for the wastewater bond vote the 33.8 million that's all the projects That's our high-end estimate if the city is fortunate enough to obtain grant fundings for that Which is something we're actively pursuing That'll actually reduce the amount that we need to borrow as part of the bond So I think I might skip past that in that slide, but yeah, it's good to note Alana anything else you'd like to add? Yeah, I would just echo what tom said that Any authorization to the council is really allowing the council to issue bond debt, but it's not It doesn't tell the council that they have to do it. So they do not have to issue The full amount or any of it, of course It does signal to them that the voters would if the voters want to see the projects Well, thank you very much jesse tom and alana for coming out tonight and Presenting on the budget and the ballot items. It really helps sort of demystify those um big kind of daunting often daunting ballot questions. Um, and uh Yeah, and like jesse mentioned all of this um is available to be seen and further researched on the south burlington web city website and um Yeah, thank you so much for joining us and thanks to everyone uh for tuning in to tonight's uh, town meeting tv actually the first uh installment of our town meeting day coverage for 2023 and like jesse mentioned, um Polls are open from seven to seven on town meeting day, which is march tuesday march 7th And if you'd like to request an absentee ballot make sure you contact your um city's clerk Um other than that thanks for watching and sharing town meeting tv Please subscribe to us if you haven't already at youtube.com Slash town meeting tv. Thanks and have a great night