Just listened to our Mayor’s monthly commentary & interview on WVMT, and I’ll summarize a few of the points of the 20 minute segment for you here:

• Sanctuary city update:
• Mayor Kiss is currently waiting for City Attorney McNeil’s report about the issue before he proceeds wtih anything
• A caller had just suggested that he’d much rather see US citizen child molesters given amnesty rather than illegal immigrants.
  Quite a viewpoint to take on the issue… just an example of how controversial the issue is becoming.
• About the new UVM alcohol policy: City is set to have meetings with UVM about the policy, Mayor Kiss would have liked to have known about the new policy *before* it was given publicity.
• FY 07 Budget was handed out at Monday’s Council meeting. The tax increase will put the city ‘in good shape’
• Also, Mayor Kiss is set to participate in this weekend’s Vermont City Marathon

For those interested, Mayor Kiss makes a monthly visit to the Charlie & Ernie show the 4th Wednesday of month at 8AM.

Just back in from being kicked out of the Council meeting for their usual executive session. They seem to have one at every meeting, so much that it’s a rare thing to see a meeting go by without one.

Anyway, a slight update to the last post about the impending taxes…
Straight from Leopold’s office, the city has a current estimated $40 millon debt in the Fiscal Year 07 budget. (Note – the draft of the 07 budget will be available by the end of this week). Based on the current estimates (which do not include the Retirement portion), Leopold estimates it would take a 2.4% tax rate increase just to cover the shortfall, and this is with the city taking about 1/2 of the Local Option Sales Tax (or LOST, as I call it) revenue to be applied to the 07 budget.
(On a side note, Leopold’s changed the date of when LOST will take effect to July 1st, instead of January 1st for more money in the budget)

A few good comments & questions where brought up by some councilors after the presentation:

• Councilor Bushor (Ward 1): I do understand that this estimate doesn’t include the retirement portion, but what does the 2.4% increase mean to the average homeowner? Hopes it is addressed in the draft budget.
• Councilor Shannon (Ward 5): I cannot understand how the uncollected taxes portion of the budget got to over $1.3 Million…
• Leopold: They are outstanding or delinquent property taxes, which make up 4-5% of the total property tax portion of the city budget (the amount also includes interest, and late fees); the amount also includes gross receipts taxes, which the decision by the Liscense Committee made a deal with the late applicants that they would grant the liscense renewal, but only if they committed to a payment plan, otherwise no liscense would be granted. This guarantees the money from the gross receipts tax.

So this is all I have on the budget so far, aside from a few handouts comparing the tax rates, and deficits from previous years. John Briggs of the Free Press was also in attendance, so there probably will also be coverage there too.

As mentioned at the last Burlington Business Association meeting with Bob Kiss, our mayor is proposing increasing taxes… here’s the story from the AP:

Burlington Faces Tax Hike To Cover Pension Underfunding
POSTED: 10:43 am EDT May 13, 2006
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Burlington’s new mayor said the state’s largest city faces a tax increase because there hasn’t been enough money set aside to cover employee pensions. Over the past two years, Burlington has underfunded the pension system by nearly $2.8 million.Mayor Bob Kiss said he’ll ask for a tax increase to cover all of this year’s pension requirements and to begin reducing previous obligations. Kiss has formed a task force to help him deal with problems in the city’s budget. Former Mayor Peter Clavelle’s administration had estimated the city would be $1.7 million short of meeting its budget. The state has since approved giving Burlington authority to collect a 1 percent local sales tax that is expected to generate $800,000.

So now here’s a little list I’ve come up with of more money Burlingtonians will have to dole out to the government:

• Local option sales tax
• Burlington Electric rate increase
• Increase in Dept. of Motor Vehicle Fees (starting July 1st)
• Some Burlington residents (including our home) will be or have already gotten from the Assessors office, a ‘re-estimate’ of the property reappraisal – our home’s estimate increased by $3,000
• And of course, the extra taxes as mentioned in the above article that our Mayor will be asking us for very soon…

It wouldn’t suprise me to see even more For Sale signs start springing up like weeds around town.

This entry’s a bit delayed, as it was to be posted on May 1st… it’s been wicked busy for work lately… but without further ado, here it is:

Just heard about this article from the Vermont Hum blog’s 4/30/6 entry , and couldn’t believe what I read… the city allowing select applicants get by the rules… Does it seem fair to allow this to happen to some establishments, and not let all the other businesses get by as well?

Here’s the article from John Briggs:

City grants liquor-license extensions to late applicants

This issue will further be discussed at Monday’s Council meeting.

For those who haven’t heard about Mayor Kiss’ comments, here’s the Ch. 3 Story.

Just finished reading Peter Freyne’s column, he made some good points about a few Burlington issues towards the end of the column:

1 – Burlington Police Dept. (BPD) website out of date
I’ve never visited their website, until Peter mentioned it that is. According to the update information (as it’s still in the City’s old website format, not the new one), the last update was made in October 2005! Also, on an even worse note, the Fire Dept.’s site hasn’t been updated since July 2004!
Wow.
Now, I can understand that they may be set back on updating due to the Telecom project, but some things like the link to ‘Report a Crime’ are no longer valid! It makes me wonder if anyone’s ever tried using that link to report a crime… hopefully they don’t. It also makes me wonder where our taxpayer funds (as well as the grant monies they receive) are going in the BPD.

2 – Department Head Residency Requirements
I would think that most anyone you would ask on the street “Should their government official that makes decisions over your city should live within the city as well”, would say yes.
Now, as time goes on, I’m finding more and more Burlington city employees that are somewhat high up in the department’s ranks do not live in Burlington either
For example, last year, a proposal was brought forth to the Neighborhood Planning Assemblies (NPAs) from a Dept. of Public Works official (who happened to be an out-of-towner)… now this resolution called for a 5 to 6 foot no-parking zone from all driveways in Burlington, with those who did not comply being slapped with a tow and or fine. Now, in some neighborhoods around the city (including mine), this would prevent the property owner from even parking on their own land. Needless to say, the resolution never made it to the NPAs.
Also, just last night, at the NPA in my ward, the member of the Fire Dept. who was scheduled to present for 15 minutes about an Emergency Preparedness workbook asked to cut his presentation short so he could be home for dinner (outside of Burlington).

Now, I understand that some people may have the qualifications for the job, but their family is ‘tied-down’ to a certain community; and some people are even being hired to the department head position from other states, such as our new Code Enforcement director, Greg McKnight, who moved from Colorado to take his job. Is it too much to ask to have your official be a resident of the town they oversee?

I’m curious to know our New Mayor’s response to this issue.

This morning Jeremy and I attended the monthly Burlington Business Association’s (BBA) meeting at the ECHO center, where we were able to get a glimpse of what the newly elected Mayor, and former State Rep. Bob Kiss had in mind for the city of Burlington.

I’ll do a recap of my personal thoughts of the meeting in italics for you, as I know everyone’s wondering right now what Mayor Kiss has in mind for the city.
Also, FYI: Jeremy’s already made an observational post about the Q&A session on his blog.

The meeting started off as usual, with a light breakfast, where people could meet personally with Mayor Kiss.
I guess there were quite a few who wanted to speak with him personally, as the meeting started about 10 minutes past the scheduled time to start, something that struck me as odd, as BBA is usually on schedule.
Mike Monte the head of CEDO was in attendance (and was actually dressed in a black suit, something I’ve never seen him do before at any meeting… kinda odd for a meeting taking place at 8AM), Police Chief Tremblay, Parks and Rec director Wayne Gross, and the newly appointed manager John Leopold were also in attendance, recognized at the beginning of the meeting.

Right before Bob’s turn to speak, it was mentioned that John Leopold may also be able to speak and answer questions as well, to which Leopold immediately shook his head no. I feel it’s another odd thing to be happening for a public official, to not answer questions, or at the very least introduce yourself to the public.

When it came to Bob’s turn to speak, he repeatedly said in his opening statement that it’s his 3rd day in office.
As if to say, don’t ask any questions of depth because I’m not familiar with anything yet. But wasn’t he elected almost a month ago now? It seems to me that once you are elected, or hopefully before you are elected, you should try and make an effort to become familiar with the workings of the city, so you may be able to address questions. Another odd thing.

Bob went on to say that he had just got his email set up – [email protected]
and that he would prefer people to reach him by that way, or by phone 802-865-7272.
No mention that his door was always open or anything like that… kinda struck me as odd as well, but he did mention that he is making an effort right now to meet with people.

Total number odd things happened at the meeting: 5

The meeting actually ended a bit early, which didn’t surprise me, as Bob’s known to be a man of few words.
So, as I recount this meeting with the new mayor, I have to say I’m a little worried about the growth of what Bob calls ‘good government’, and hope to see that odd meter go down in numbers as time goes on.

Just read over a somewhat humorous article by Ed Shamy of the Free Press, here’s the link: Burlington Free Press.com |

Even royalty can’t afford Queen City
It’s funny, but at the same time, true to what’s happening to some Burlingtonians.

My husband and I personally keep our thermostat at a constant 60 degrees to save on heating costs, while we throw on more layers of clothing to keep ourselves warm while working. At times, I even use a pair of mittens to keep my hands warm… The sacrifices we make to stay in Burlington.

A picture of me at one of our Ethan Allen Park signwaves…

Well, we’re back, after a 12 hour 15 minute stand at the Ward Seven polling place, where Jeremy amazingly (with very little sleep mind you) only took one 5 minute break for the ENTIRE time (starting at 6:45AM this morning)! All other Ward 7 council candidates took several breaks throughout the day and actually left the polling place several times!

Anyway, we’re back home recovering from this tiresome session… & I notice that Ch. 17 is offering a webstream of their election results:
Ch. 17 Election results

Just thought I’d mention this to those without cable, who are wondering what the results are…