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Mayor launches push for Nov. ballot items

Burlington Free Press – 10.11.2016

This November, Burlington voters will see four questions on their ballot — passing all of them are crucial for the city’s future, said Mayor Miro Weinberger.

Ballot items asking voters to allow the city to borrow $27.5 million for general infrastructure improvements and $8 million for water main improvements were approved by the City Council last month.

The council also sent two questions to voters that both need to be approved in order for development of the Burlington Town Center to move forward — a zoning change that would allow for the taller building, and $22 million in borrowing to issue tax increment (TIF) financing that would, among other changes, reconnect Pine and St. Paul streets.

Burlington has used TIF districts in the past, most notably along the waterfront in the late 90s which is often held up as an example of a successful implementation of a TIF district. Thanks to the district, the value of property on the waterfront nearly tripled.

A TIF district works by allowing a municipality to borrow money to pay for infrastructure, in this case the reconnection of St. Paul and Pine streets, that would then incentivize private development, in this case the Burlington Town Center. The city would be repaid by an increment — thus the name — from property tax revenue of whatever is in the district.

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From left: City Council president Jane Knodell, P-Central, District, Dave Hartnett, I-North District, former mayor Peter Clavelle, Joan Shannon, D-South District, Tom Ayres D-Ward 7. (Photo: CORY DAWSON/FREE

If the infrastructure and water main items pass, a conservative estimate of the average tax bill will be about $12.50 a month higher in five years than it is today, Weinberger has said. If the city’s tax base grows, from new housing in the Burlington Town Center and redevelopment of Burlington College land, that burden would lessen.

Weinberger, joined by former mayor Peter Clavelle and a handful of City Councilors gathered media outside the Burlington Town Center Tuesday afternoon. They made their case for approval of the four ballot items and announced the resurrection of a campaign committee first organized by Weinberger that will hold public meetings to advocate for the ballot items.

Should any of the votes fail, the city would be in a difficult place, Weinberger said on The Table last month.

The Table: 039 Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger

“It would be a huge setback,” Weinberger said of the infrastructure improvement our problems won’t go away if it fails.”

All of the ballot items are important, he said, but approving the items that allow the mall to redeveloped are crucial — without a ‘Yes’ vote, Burlington Town Center investor Don Sinex will very likely not wait for the city to come up with a new plan.

“With the infrastructure bond, we would go back and we would have to come up with a plan B. If the TIF bond goes down there is no plan B,”  Weinberger said.

A sample ballot is available on the city website. Click here.

This article was first posted online Oct. 11, 2016. Contact Cory Dawson at 4826, on his cell (802) 338-0316 or via email at cdawson2@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Dawson_and_Co.

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