Town Meeting Approves Capital Budget, Narrowly Defeats Bylaw Change
The second night of the Burlington May 2025 Town Meeting saw discussion of curriculum, HVAC upgrades to town buildings, and proposed bylaw changes.
Burlington's May Town Meeting, the largest of the three Town Meetings where the town's annual budget is set, met for the second evening on Wednesday and picked up where they'd left off two nights before.
The Recreation Department presented articles for maintenance and repairs to various facilities around town, including funding the athletic fields improvement program that was initiated for FY25, fencing and walkway repair around town, basketball court replacements at Rahanis Park, and the Town Common walkways. The gazebo, whose renovation was initially on the Warrant, was taken off – but for good reason, as local developer Bob Murray offered to pay for the project at no expense to the taxpayer. All told, these articles totaled just over a million dollars.
The School Department had a lot of big-ticket items on the warrant as well, totaling nearly $3 million. These included network upgrades, building and security upgrades, Green Communities HVAC work and other HVAC work, furniture at the middle school, scoreboards, and boiler room maintenance at Pine Glen. Monies were also allocated for emergency tree maintenance and removal for the schools, in the case that a tree becomes a problem and the Recreation Department isn't equipped to remove them. Both Recreation and the School Department, along with some Town Meeting members, expressed the desire for the tree removal budget to fall solely with Recreation, but that change will have to wait, as it wasn't on this May's Warrant.
Article 4-20 for an elementary literacy curriculum that follows the recommendations of the literacy task force and outside consultant, Dr. Gail Lovette, garnered some discussion. The article, requesting over half a million dollars in startup costs for a new K-5 literacy curriculum that embeds science and social studies content, as well as $10,000 for a middle school pilot, passed after the title was amended to reflect the correct grade levels. An amendment to remove the middle school pilot was proposed and failed.
The Department of Public Works got what it was asking for, as well, with Town Meeting authorizing acceptance of $1.4M from the state for infrastructure upgrades and spending/transfers that will allow them to maintain the town's water and sewage infrastructure. The Town Hall and Town Hall Annex will also get new HVAC to the tune of $5.3M.
The only article on the Warrant that didn't pass so far is Article 30, which aimed to change the town's stormwater management bylaw by separating it into a bylaw plus regulations. The change was defeated 44-43 in a roll call vote to round out the evening.
The final articles for May Town Meeting will be heard on Monday, May 19, at the BHS Auditorium.
This year’s Annual Town Meeting will begin on Monday, May 12, at 7:00 PM and will continue on Wednesday and Monday evenings until the entire Warrant has been reviewed. Click here for our full Warrant Summary. Stay tuned to the Buzz for summaries of the articles in the Town Meeting Warrant and how Town Meeting votes on each.
