Burlington Operating Budget Passes Town Meeting to the Tune of $187 Million

Burlington's May Town Meeting kicked off with a reflection on the country's founding from Town Moderator, Bill Beyer.

"Three weeks and two hundred fifty years ago, the men of Woburn's Second Parish gathered on the lawn of their meetinghouse, which is still the meetinghouse of the Congregational Church...and marched off to Lexington." This, said Beyer, was after the Intolerable Acts from England's King George III had abolished the Massachusetts Bay Charter, eliminating the local governments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. "If you had a Town Meeting, you were subject to arrest and imprisonment," said Beyer.

By April 19, the Royal Agents that were dispatched to the communities across the colony to enforce this order had been driven back to Boston. "They said, 'Our local government and our Town Meeting is that important that we are not putting up with this,'" said Beyer.

Following this reflection, the work of Burlington's Town Meeting got underway, as 104 of the town's 126 precinct representatives reviewed the town's operational budget and just under half of the capital requests from town departments for the upcoming fiscal year.

The meeting began with a report from the High School Building Committee, following which Town Administrator John Danizio gave the body an overview of revenues, expenditures, priorities and the budgeting process. Finally, Fourth of July Committee Chair, Nick Priest, gave an update during which he shared that this year's parade will be canceled and said the Committee is seeking volunteers to be able to hold the parade in future years.

The $187-million operating budget for the year was considered next; this is presented as a consent article, with all line items passing unless held by a Town Meeting Member. About $80 million in line items passed, while the remainder were held for discussion. Some highlights of those discussions:

• The cost to run a Town Meeting has increased in the last few years, and the money has been transferred from other sources; this budget was officially increased last night to reflect reality. This doesn't include potential future costs like remote/hybrid access and electronic voting systems & training.
• The Fire Department has a minimum staffing requirement for safety reasons, which drives the overtime budget into the millions ($19,000 or so per staff member on average) because shifts must be staffed even if people are out due to illness, injury, or paid time off.
• Management Information Systems budget has increased because the town will be adding a Security Operations Center (SOC) that will continuously monitor the town's technology infrastructure for malicious or suspicious activity.

The entire operating budget passed, as did the next two articles – Article 29 to change the details of the revolving account for the defunct B Line to reflect its current use ("Local Transportation") to offset expenses for the town's Lyft program and Article 3 to authorize the full complement of revolving accounts to receive funding and pay for expenses.

Next up, the first 12 capital articles passed, including:

• A pilot for a new filtration media for drinking water at Mill Pond, which could be just as effective for a lower cost and allow the town more flexibility.
• A master plan for how Burlington stores and uses water.
• New equipment for the Police Department, including rifles, less-lethal launchers, and automated external defibrillators.
• New vehicles for the Fire, Conservation, and Public Works Departments as well as smaller equipment for the DPW to be able to work in tight spaces in the town's cemeteries.

The meeting adjourned just before 11:00 and will resume on Wednesday evening at 7:00 with Article 4-13.

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. Check out the Buzz Warrant Summary for explanations of the articles in the Town Meeting Warrant and how Town Meeting votes on each.