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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Regularly Scheduled Commission Meetings Burlington Legacy Project

aunched in 1999 as a community plan- vancement for ethnically and culturally di- L ning initiative to guide Burlington’s fu- verse populations. The mission of Legacy’s ture, the Legacy Project gathered ideas Social Equity Investment Project (SEIP) is to from more than a thousand city residents identify and support leadership that can and created a comprehensive action plan collaborate and help facilitate sustainable for the economic, environmental, and social and effective social change. health of the city. Legacy connects diverse UVM established a diversity curriculum initiatives in the city, identifies key priori- to increase the multi-cultural competency ties, raises awareness on sustainability, and of all division staff. ALANA’s Summer En- creates a comprehensive plan to guide the richment Scholarship Program, a free sum- economic, environmental, and social health mer bridge program, was offered to first of Burlington for years to come. Wanda year incoming-students of color and Hines and Jennifer Green serve as Legacy’s bi/multi-racial students. co-coordinators. The SEIP, in partnership with the Snelling Community stakeholders, including the Institute, created the Social Equity Scholar- United Way, UVM, Fletcher Allen, Burling- ship Fund. The kick off event included a ton Business Association, the Burlington luncheon with over 40 community leaders. Public Schools, Champlain College, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Com- merce, other organizations, and City De- partments are represented on the Legacy Steering Committee. Highlights of the past year include: Creating a Vibrant Urban Center In addition to promoting the Burlington Branding Toolkits, two Legacy partners — the Chamber and the Burlington Business Association – launched a cooperative ad- vertising campaign in Montreal newspapers promoting travel to Burlington. The BBA and Chamber also continue to work with the Burlington International Airport to ex- Economic Self-Reliance pand air service to Burlington. Burlington Electric Department continued Economic Security to offer staff the opportunity to acquire the skills and experience necessary to become The United Way initiated the “Working a qualified electric utility line-worker while Bridges Project” in partnership with the receiving a degree in electrical technology CASH Coalition of Chittenden County and through an accredited on-line program. several local employers. This work included Fletcher Allen welcomed dozens of “Ju- developing innovative employee benefit nior Voluteers” to its facility over summer practices to assist low-wage workers, in- 2008. This program offered Burlington cluding an emergency financial loan pro- youth important skills and training for those gram and on-site resource coordinator. interested in exploring the medical and Fletcher Allen Health Care worked with health professions. the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Pro- gram and the Vermont Children’s Hospital Transportation to establish a refugee clinic, open 2 days a UVM, Champlain College, the City and oth- week and serving 400 children annually, re- ers partnered to support the creation of gardless of insurance. non-profit Car Share Vermont, a transporta- Social Equity tion alternative with a mission to “provide an affordable, convenient, and reliable al- Legacy continued to work on city and ternative to private car ownership that en- school employment practices and on other hances the environmental, economic, and opportunities for economic and social ad- social wellbeing of our region and plant.”

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Legacy Project continued Burlington International Airport

Fletcher Allen promoted alternative Environmental Health forms of transportation to employees Legacy continues working toward changes through its work with the Campus Area in the existing anti-idling ordinance as a Transportation Management Association means to improve public health and (CATMA). Currently, more than half of Burlington’s air quality. Legacy worked in FAHC employees carpool, walk, take the conjunction with volunteers from the Police bus, or walk to work – up from approxi- Department to launch a public outreach mately 30% five years ago. and education campaign about idling. Our Schools Legacy started the process of re-writing the City’s Climate Action Plan. This effort, The Burlington School District (BSD), with in collaboration with Planning and Zoning, substantial input and participation from the has involved the input of dozens of citizens, community, worked during 2007-08 to de- every City Department, and members of velop a long-range, strategic and compre- the non-profit and business sector to meet hensive plan for renovation of Burlington’s Burlington’s goal of reducing greenhouse nine public schools over the next ten years, gas emissions by 2020 to 20% below 2007 with the goal of ensuring an excellent pub- levels. Legacy also staffs the Mayor’s En- lic school system that attracts families to ergy and Environment Coordinating Com- Burlington and develops a workforce for mittee (E2C2), a working group composed the 21st century. Legacy participated on of City staff, non-profit and public sector the BSD Vision and Master Plan Steering entities. This year, the E2C2 devised a list of Committee. recommendations on how the City can re- Burlington Schools Foods Project, a joint duce its GHG emissions with changes in effort between the Burlington Schools, transportation policy and infrastructure. Shelburne Farms, VT FEED, Healthy City, Legacy worked with the Mayor’s Office the Sustainable Schools Project and Legacy to create a municipal team, the Burlington continued its support of local food systems Sustainability Action Team, charged with and providing healthy local food in school guiding energy efficiency and waste reduc- cafeterias. During this past 2007 harvest tion efforts in Government operations. season, the food service purchased 15,000 Legacy, with UVM, BED, and non-profit pounds of local food for the school meals and business leaders, launched the Kitchen of 3,800 students. Table Collaborative (http://kitchentablecol- Civic and Community Engagement laborative.org/), a program designed to re- Legacy, in conjunction with the Center for duce GHG emissions and save energy at Community and Neighborhoods, involved the household level. Mayor Kiss made a hundreds of people through a variety of commitment to involve his own household outreach activities and community events, and neighborhood, forming an “EcoTeam.” including the Neighborhood Night of Suc- Legacy continues to staff the Burlington cess, Green Up! Day events and activities, Food Council, a coordinating body for com- Martin Luther King Day, and the Annual munity members and organizations con- Legacy Town Meeting. cerned with local food production, nutrition, A key goal of the Legacy vision is em- and the health of children and their fami- powering youth to participate in decisions lies. Fletcher Allen Health Care received the that affect their city and neighborhoods. nationally recognized Green Health Award Legacy continues to implement the Youth for its purchase and use of local food. on Boards program to connect Burlington The Food Council hosted the first annual teens 15-17 years old to serve on City of Junior Iron Chef Competition in April 2008, Burlington boards and commissions. involving over 30 student teams from around The Social Equity Advisory Committee the state to conceptualize and create their under the auspices of Legacy’s SEIP works own unique dishes made from local produce. to involve the community in bringing lead- The success of this event has led to plans ership, insight and direction on social equity for a Second Junior Iron Chef competition. issues.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Legacy Project continued Burlington International Airport

he fiscal year ending June 30, 2008 was tional Guard presence, we have added Ta terrific one for your airport despite a positions and state-of-the-art equipment to backdrop of mostly bad news from the air- our snow removal capability. Last winter line industry nationally. Business, measured was extremely expensive in terms of fuel, on the basis of passengers leaving from deicing material and overtime as many Burlington, was up 4% through the end of storms lasted multiple days and consisted the fiscal year. The prospects for FY09 are of both snow and ice. We will be better bright with the addition of air service from equipped to deal with winter maintenance this year. The next year will bring new plans for added parking spaces, improved bus service from Quebec directly to the airport, taxi system improvements and continued devel- opment of the south end business park. We will also increase our efforts to develop air Brian R. service to Boston after regular Boston service Searles was lost with the demise of Big Sky airlines Director of this past year. Aviation Continued thanks are due to the admin- istration of Mayor Bob Kiss and the City Council for their support of the airport. The Board of Airport Commissioners has been actively engaged in the often difficult job of managing the growth of the airport and AirTran Airways to the Baltimore-Washing- continues to seek input from the public on ton International Airport (BWI). BWI is a how the airport can serve you better. Be hub for AirTran and Southwest and also sure to visit our web site at www.btv.aero. serves the popular Washington, D.C. mar- ket. The first 3 months of the new fiscal year are showing double-digit increases in pas- sengers which translates into increased rev- enue for the airport. Each departing pas senger represents an average of $18.00 to the airport and the added air service results in increases in terminal rent and landing fees. With the cost of oil affecting the U.S. economy and air service we have made a more aggressive move toward attracting Canadian passengers. It appears that this is working and surveys this fall and winter will tell us more about our passenger base. Our best estimates are that up to 40% of our base business is from the province of Quebec. Due to the increase in flight operations, including an enhanced Vermont Air Na-

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington City Arts

urlington City Arts fuses a dynamic rela- Exhibitions/Education Btionship between art and community for After a year in transition, the Firehouse the Greater Burlington area. Since BCA’s in- Gallery welcomed new curator Chris ception as an all-volunteer organization in Thompson to the helm. Chris is the recipi- 1981, Burlington has grown to being of ent of numerous awards for his work, in- America’s “10 Hippest Art Towns”, “one of cluding two grants from the Vermont Arts the most livable cities for the arts” and one Council and the Vermont Community Foun- of the top 25 small city arts destinations. dation. As a guest curator at the Firehouse For the 6th year in a row, The Firehouse Gallery for Decked Out in 2007, Chris showed Gallery was named the “Best Art Gallery” his ability to unfold a love for contemporary by the readers of Seven Days. Most notably art in those who least expect it, and at the in 2008, BCA was awarded an Andy Warhol same time develop an appreciation for the Foundation for the Visual Arts Grant for talents of an underground creative culture exhibitions in the Firehouse Gallery. This to the general public. The Gallery Educa- Doreen award has placed the Firehouse Gallery in a tion program, See-Think-Do, advanced into Kraft national arena of respected art institutions its second year, surpassing expectations by Director dedicated to innovative artistic expression bringing 750 young people through the and the creative process. BCA has a sup- gallery for in-depth, engaged discussion portive and engaged Board of Directors and creation of artwork. The Seven Below which is instrumental in guiding its work. Arts Initiative, established to foster artistic BCA is a uniquely positioned City de- development and support arts education in partment, fundraising for 85% of its operat- partnership with Seven Below, administered ing budget as a non-profit organization. its second annual session of the Artist-in- This structure affords flexibility for collabo- Residence program at the Barn in Westford. ration with other city departments and an Artists who lived and worked at the Barn intimate relationship between arts and eco- created everything from paintings and nomic growth, while also encouraging vol- drawings to videos and visual journals of untary financial support from residents of senior citizens, while developing relation- outlying towns who benefit from the cul- ships with each other and BCA staff. tural services BCA fosters. With an annual Events budget of $1 million and a staff of 20, BCA As Firehouse programming solidifies, BCA’s runs the Firehouse Gallery and a number of role as cultural planner for the City of education programs within the Firehouse Burlington has kicked into high gear. Our Center for the Visual Arts, in our studios at collaboration with the Point FM brought Memorial Auditorium, and in several com- several free hit concerts to Battery Park, munity-based sites. The Firehouse has be- including young British sensations Back come an important venue for collaboration Door Slam and American singer-songwriter between BCA and our many partners, from Tift Merrit. People came out by the thousands educational institutions to businesses and to enjoy this 27-year old Thursday evening social services. Our mission is to fuse a Burlington tradition. We also piloted the dynamic relationship between the arts and first curated outdoor festival of street theater, community, to nurture creativity and imagi- circus arts, music and comedy for family nation, and to ignite a passion for learning audiences. The three-day festival featured through the arts. the best international street performers from around the globe on the Church Street Marketplace and City Hall Park. As we look forward toward 2009, BCA has set in motion a major event on Burlington’s waterfront that marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s arrival to the region. BCA hired noted Vermont Film- maker and arts activist Jay Craven to pro- duce the Celebrate Champlain festivities in Burlington, scheduled for July 2-14, 2009.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington City Arts

Collaborations floor experiment/improv lab for performers The 25th anniversary of the Discover Jazz and audience members, where everyone Festival elicited great memories of the festi- is invited to participate in a Jazz inspired val’s humble beginning, when local jazz activity. artists knocked on BCA’s door in the base- ment of City Hall asking for an event that would help Vermont discover what Jazz was all about. Today, BCA is the associate pro- ducer of the festival and the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts is the producer. BCA focuses on making the Firehouse a place where “discovery” is core to the experience. The result is Jazz Lab, a multi-

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Assessor’s Office Office of the City Attorney

he mission of the City Assessor’s Of- Planning and Zoning Department, per- W fice is to establish equitable values formed inspections for permits indicating for all taxable real estate and business per- substantial change, and as a result changed sonal property located in Burlington. The the assessments of 367 real properties. Assessor’s Office is responsible for the ad- These changes produced real estate growth ministration of 10,268 taxable real estate to the Grand List in the amount of parcels, 440 non-tax real estate parcels and $18,807,406. 831 business personal property accounts. Burlington requires all businesses to The appraised values are the basis for the return a completed business personal prop- distribution of the City’s annual property erty asset report for the business tax each tax levy. Property appraised values are year. This annual form is due by April 20. based on an estimation of fair market value. The total appraised value of the Business The Assessor’s office employs guidelines Personal Property (machinery and equip- for insuring fair appraisals for all property ment) is $131,923,128. This is an increase of John owners throughout the City. The guidelines $12,858,848 from the previous fiscal year. Vickery are as follows: Growth in Grand List value helps offset or City Assessor prevent increases in the tax rate. • Review all sales transactions. This year The Assessor’s Office provides informa- there were a total of 959 property trans- tion to taxpayers, real estate appraisers, actions, which is slightly down from 1,039 attorneys, brokers, the Vermont Depart- in FY07 and 1,137 in FY06. ment of Taxes and the public. Property data • Establish fair appraised values based on information is available on two public com- the City-wide reappraisal date of April 1, puters at the Assessor’s Office and on the 2005. Assessor’s website. The website has useful • Measure the relationship between the information such as: the City’s Grand List, real estate market and current tax ap- property record information, appeal proce- praised values. Burlington’s overall equal- dures, contact information and various ization rate is 89% which is only slightly forms. The Assessor’s site can be accessed higher than the FY07 equalization rate of through the City’s homepage at 88% and 90% in FY2006. This is an indi- www.ci.burlington.vt.us. cation of a stabilized real estate market. The Assessor’s office also monitors real • Conduct property valuation tax appeals. estate activity in Burlington. This past year our office estimated 524 fair market sale I The Board of Assessors held 114 real transactions. There were fewer fair market estate property hearings and 13 sales in fiscal year 2008 than in any of the business personal property appeal past four fiscal years; with 2007 having 536 hearings from May 21 through June 7. sales, 2006 having 606 sales, 2005 having I 29 Property appeals will be held 583 sales, and 2004 having 641 sales. Over- before the Board of Tax Appeals in all, single family home and condominium October. real estate values appear to be stable.

Each year the Assessor’s Office reviews changes to individual properties and deter- mines what if any effect these changes have upon the property’s fair market value and tax assessment. It is the policy of the Asses- sor’s Office to conduct an interior and exte- rior inspection when visiting a property under review. A thorough property inspec- tion is the fairest way to help estimate the property’s value. This past year the Asses- sor’s Office reviewed all permits issued by the Department of Public Works and the

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Assessor’s Office Office of the City Attorney

he following are selected cases and the Westlake Area condominium. On Thighlighted issues from the past year: December 1, 2008, the City and 41 Cherry The Moran Center at St LLC entered into a Ground Lease provid- Waterfront Park ing for the construction of a new hotel on the site. On October 28, 2008, Memorandums of Understanding were executed with the Burial of Utility Lines on North three proposed tenants for the Moran rede- Street and Riverside Avenue velopment project, Ice Factor, the Commu- As part of substantial street reconstruction nity Sailing Center and the Green Mountain projects on North Street and Riverside Children’s Museum. The City’s plan is to re- Avenue, the City required, pursuant to ordi- develop the Moran Plant and site to include nance, that all utility lines on these streets an indoor ice and rock climbing facility, a be relocated underground. The City asked children’s museum, outdoor ice skating BED, Adelphia, Verizon and Burlington rink, splash water park, public park, café Telecom as the affected utilities to pay their Kenneth A. and restaurant, and retention of the Sailing share (after federal and state contributions) Schatz Center. The project work plan also results in of the relocation costs. BED, with Public significant improvements at and near the Service Board approval, and Telecom City Attorney site, including upgrades to the bike path, agreed to pay their share of the cost. Veri- and road surfaces, and pedestrian walkways. An zon and Adelphia refused to pay. The City Corporation Counsel Architectural and Engineering contract was filed complaints in Chittenden Superior drafted and executed with Freeman, French, Court against Verizon and Adelphia. The Freeman Inc. for the first phase of the proj- Court issued a decision in favor of the City, ect, which will provide more detailed and holding that Verizon must bear its portion reliable cost estimates for the plan. of the cost. Verizon (now Fairpoint Commu- Westlake Settlement Agreement nications) has appealed to the Vermont and new Hotel Ground Lease Supreme Court. Briefs have been submitted and the Court has heard oral arguments The Westlake project consisted of 4 basic from the parties. We expect that a decision elements: Westlake Residential Condomini- will be issued soon. The case involving ums, a 127-room hotel, the “Lofts” (mixed- Adelphia is on a slower track because of use, residential and office), and public Adelphia’s bankruptcy. Comcast, as the parking. All of the elements have been built successor in interest to Adelphia, has been except for the Lofts portion of the project, added as a Defendant in the case. which included seven affordable housing units. When it became clear that the Lofts Public Records Litigation: developer was not going to construct the Gannett Vermont Publishing, building in a timely manner, the City and Inc. d/b/a Burlington Free Press the developer entered into settlement v. City of Burlington negotiations. A Settlement Agreement was The Burlington Free Press requested e-mails reached and approved by the City Council between the City Attorney Joseph E. McNeil on February 19, 2008, providing that the and other City staff. The City disclosed Developer would pay the City $371,000 in numerous e-mails pursuant to Vermont’s lieu of constructing the seven units of af- Public Record Law but did not disclose fordable housing, $28,750 to cover City purely personal e-mails not related to City enforcement costs and the City would business. The Washington Superior Court obtain site control of the property. issued a written decision on Oct. 6, 2008 On May 30, 2008, the Development Re- vindicating the City’s decisions to withhold view Board approved the in lieu payment to the emails. The Judge agreed that almost address the inclusionary zoning requirements all of the documents were appropriately of the project. The City issued a request for withheld. He released approximately 20 letters of interest from developers and emails that included a mix of City business selected a group proposing to build a new and personal communications, with the per- hotel on the Lofts site, known as Unit A of sonal communications redacted. The Judge

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Attorney continued

also agreed that the City appropriately duct, had a culpable intent, or that the withheld emails related to attorney-client election result was not valid. Our office has communications and collective bargaining been working closely with the City’s elec- negotiations. tion officials and the Secretary of State’s Litigation re: March 4, 2008 Office to train election officials for subse- Ward 7 City Council Election quent elections. The office successfully defended the City Champlain College’s Purchase and Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan of the Eagles Club: P. A. Leopold, Jr. in the case of Jean O’Sulli- Champlain College acquired the Eagles van v. City of Burlington & Jonathan Leopold. Club property on St. Paul St. after receiving The complaint sought invalidation of the City approval pursuant to the 1994 Memo- March 4, 2008 Ward 7 City Council election randum of Understanding between the City based on allegations of ballot tampering and the College. A separate agreement and election fraud. The court found that the was executed by the City and the College opening of sealed ballot bags to obtain cor- providing certain considerations regarding rect tabulations for this election violated 17 development of the site, parking, neighbor- V.S.A. § 2590 (c). However, the court dis- hood impact and its integration and com- missed all Plaintiff’s claims and requests in patibility with any prospective development the action, ruling that she did not establish of the Brown’s Court site. The College also that city officials engaged in willful miscon- agreed to enter into a fee-for-services agreement with the City to cover the cost of City services relating to this property. Proposed New Transit Center The City negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding with Chittenden County Transit Association (CCTA) for development of a proposed new transit center on Cherry Street; including the use and application of designated federal funds. Tax Appeals In Delta Psi Fraternity v. the City of Burling- ton, the Vermont Supreme Court unani- mously ruled for the City in holding that Delta Psi Fraternity’s property was not tax exempt because it had discontinued using the property as housing for its members. This decision was an important victory because it prevents the widening of the exemption and the consequent shift of the tax burden on to the rest of the City tax base. Chemical Fire at UVM A chemical fire at Delehanty Hall on the University of Vermont campus on May 28, 2007 caused significant damage to City firefighting equipment in the process of responding to this fire, which involved hazardous chemicals. The City settled claims with the University of Vermont over the costs associated with this fire, claims made pursuant to the hazardous chemical damages recovery statute, 20 V.S.A. § 39.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Attorney continued

Code Enforcement the Public Works Department and is poised The City Attorney’s Office assisted the to implement a unified CO. Such an improve - Code Enforcement Office, Fire Depart- ment should increase code compliance. ment, and Public Works Department in an Fire and Lead Paint Ordinances important code compliance case at 231 S. The City Attorney’s Office assisted the Fire Prospect St. The departments, in the wake Department and Code Enforcement Office of a fire after long standing enforcement and CEDO in the drafting of 2 major ordi- actions, issued orders to vacate the prop- nances, the comprehensive revision of the erty and the office represented the depart- City’s fire ordinances and a major upgrade ments in the appeals of those orders. As a to the City’s lead paint poisoning preven- result of these enforcement actions, this 14 tion housing code. The ordinances were unit boarding house was renovated and introduced and referred to the City Council brought up to fire, building safety, and Ordinance Committee. minimum housing code over a two month period and tenants were successfully relo- Acknowledgements cated pursuant to the protections of the I would like to thank Mayor Kiss, Assistant minimum housing code. to the Mayor Joe Reinert, the City Council, The City Attorney’s Office has assisted the various City Commissions and Depart- these departments in a number of other ment Heads, Assistant City Attorneys, code enforcement actions during the year. Eugene Bergman, Nikki Fuller, Richard It is also working with them on creating an Haesler, Kimberlee Sturtevant, our para - administrative enforcement system for the legal, Lisa Jones, our Executive Secretary delegated inspection responsibilities under Linda Blanchard, Joseph E. McNeil and all the Memorandum of Understanding with McNeil, Leddy & Sheahan attorneys and the State of Vermont’s Fire Safety Division. staff for their cooperation and assistance The City Attorney’s Office has also as- during the past year. sisted these offices and the Public Works Commission in the enforcement and admin- istration of the Vacant and Dangerous Buildings Ordinance. The Office provided legal support to the Commission in its hear- ings on a vacant building at 2 Appletree Point Lane and then assisted the Code En- forcement Office and building inspector in bringing the owners into compliance with regard to the administrative requirements of the ordinance and abating a dangerous condition on the property. Mayor’s Task Forces on Stormwater and Permitting The City Attorney’s Office provided advice to two Mayoral taskforces, the Stormwater Taskforce and the Permitting Task Force. The Stormwater Taskforce proposed the first comprehensive revision to the City’s wastewater, water pollution control and stormwater management system in some 30 years, which was adopted by the City Council on December 15, 2008. The Permit- ting Taskforce has been working to stream- line the Certificate of Occupancy processes of the Planning & Zoning Department and

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Church Street Marketplace

Farewells and New Names new city center, modeled on Church Street, We said farewell to Jack, Arde and Elaine is in the works for South Burlington. Willis- Fontaine, owners of the legendary Rusty ton’s Tafts Corners has evolved into a con- Scuffer; and welcomed new owner Mike sumer-diverse mix of big boxes and local, Williams (owner of Kountry Kart Deli) who one-of-a-kind shops and eateries. If imita- renamed the business Scuffer Steak & Ale. tion is the sincerest form of flattery, then Welcome to these new businesses: Boloco, we’re flattered. But we’re also energized to Second Time Around, M-A-C Cosmetics sustain Downtown as the unique experi- and Whim. ence it has been for more than 25 years. In Increased Sponsorships 2009, The Downtown Partnership (CEDO, the Marketplace and Burlington Business Our thanks also to Stowe Mountain Resort, Association), along with the Burlington Fairpoint Communications, Hall Communi- Planning Commission, will seek your valued cations, NewsChannel 5, The Burlington input as they update and expand Down- Free Press and Northfield Savings Bank. Their Ron town’s long-term vision and plan, first de- partnerships make our events possible! Redmond veloped in 1989-90. Executive Improvements Continue Capturing the Millenial Director In Summer of 2008, we began improve- Generation ments to the alleyway between the Market- By the year 2010, members of the millen- place Garage and the Marketplace – a nial generation (1982 – 2000) will outnum- major gateway to Church Street. Resurfac- ber Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers. This ing, new lighting and stone work have generation is technologically savvy, commu- transformed the alleyway into a much more nity-minded and very social. We’re now on inviting environment for our guests. Up- Facebook, are revamping our website and coming improvements: Church Street’s encouraging all of our local business own- street lighting and electrical system. ers to have a presence on the Web – an es- sential! The Greening of Church Street Our thanks to Mike Cozad and All Cycle/ Casella Waste Systems for sponsoring the Marketplace’s trash hauling and recycling – providing a $10,000 savings to our operat- ing budget. All Cycle also donated new recycling containers for the street, and a new electric vehicle used for trash removal and errands on the Marketplace. All 2008 holiday lights will be 100% LED. Responsible Hospitality We continued our involvement with down- town’s hospitality sector. Burlington Police, the Marketplace, Red Square, Rasputin’s and Nectar’s worked together to create the Cabaret Association of Burlington. Its mis- sion is to create and maintain a symbiotic relationship with the community that cele- Competition from the Suburbs is brates a vibrant, supportive and safe hospi- Heating Up tality and entertainment industry in Burlington. Downtown Burlington’s planners were The primary goal is to increase responsible ahead of the curve when they envisioned hospitality in our downtown, reduce calls to the Church Street Marketplace. Now, other BPD for service and enhance public safety areas are catching up—areas with advan- in our downtown. tages like I-89 access and more parking. A

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Church Street Marketplace

Great Public Space thanks to corporate sponsors Fairpoint The American Planning Association (APA) Communications, Stowe Mountain Resort, designated Church Street Marketplace as Burlington Free Press, Hall Communica- one of 10 Great Public Spaces for 2008 for tions, NewsChannel 5, Northfield Savings, its “inclusive and careful planning and de- Magic Hat Brewery and Casella Waste sign process, historic buildings, thriving re- Management. Their financial support makes tail trade, carefully maintained streets and our marketing program possible. walkways, and strong community support.” We’re in good company as New York City’s We thank you for the opportunity to be of Central Park was also selected! service to you – for what we believe is the On the Marketing Front country’s best pedestrian mall! We continued with our event strategy – cre- ating, developing and managing events that will bring people to the Marketplace for a positive downtown experience. Our

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Clerk/Treasurer

he mission of the Office of the City included an increase in the Fund Balance to TClerk/Treasurer is to oversee and man- an historic high level of more than $7 million. age the City’s finances and to maintain and Similarly, the “Undesignated Funds” of the strengthen five basic structures of local Fund Balance increased from more than democracy: elections, public records, City $2.3 million to approximately $4.3 million. Council proceedings, licensing, and the The Undesignated Funds represent the dissemination of public information. We City’s emergency reserves or “rainy day” maintain a system of accounting consistent fund to meet unforeseen contingencies. with recognized accounting standards and The current level of the Undesignated full disclosure of the City’s financial position. Funds as of 6/30/08 is an historic high and We coordinate the preparation of the close to 9% of operating revenues which is Mayor’s annual budget and maintain a reasonable level consistent with sound budget control. financial management. We also provide administrative leader- The rate of growth in City expenses has Jonathan ship, direction and support to the Mayor, been significantly reduced as General Fund P. A. City Council, City Departments and the operating expenditures for FY 2008 increased Leopold, Jr. public. We continually strive to improve our less than 4% over FY 2007. Total General Chief services for the citizens of Burlington and Fund Expenditures including Capital Improve - Administrative the various members of City government. ments actually decreased 1.5%. The FY Officer Please phone 865-7000 with any questions 2008 budget reduced City General Fund for the City Clerk/Treasurer’s Office or go personnel and the rate of growth of person- to http://www.ci.burlington.vt.us/ct/. nel related expenditures. Revenues and City Finances Continue to Expenditures were consistent with the Improve budget proposed by Mayor Kiss and adopted by the City Council in June, 2007. The finances of the City remain sound and The municipal tax rate for FY 2008 and continued to improve in Fiscal Year 2008. FY 2009 remained level with a total non- The improvement in General Fund finances school rate of 67 cents per hundred dollars

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Clerk/Treasurer

of assessed value. General Fund revenues Mayor’s Budget Task Force of more than $48.7 million exceeded con- In February 2007, Mayor Kiss appointed a servative budget estimates. In particular, second Citizen Budget Task Force to assist Gross Receipts and Local Option Sales in the development of the Fiscal Year 2008 Taxes totaled more than $4.3 million, 23% Budget. Comprised of 24 citizens, the Task higher than budgeted. In addition, the City Force included representatives elected by received approximately $600,000 in fees for the Neighborhood Planning Assemblies municipal services pursuant to a new agree- (NPA’s) and randomly selected volunteers ment with the University of Vermont. The from all Wards of the City and members VITAL City also received $98,000 in fees for mu- from the first Task Force. STATISTICS nicipal services from Champlain College in The Task Force met through the spring addition to $325,000 in property taxes. and early summer and issued a report of Births FY 2008 General Fund Expenditures recommendations in July 2008. The Task 2,254 were generally consistent with the budget. Force reviewed the finances and proposed Expenditures in the Fire Department ex- budgets for all major departments of the Deaths ceeded the budget due to overtime costs City except for the Airport and Burlington 923 for minimum staffing. The adverse winter Telecom. Ultimately, the FY 2008 budget and spring weather resulted in an overrun proposed by Mayor Kiss and approved by Marriages in expenditures in the Department of Public the City Council in June 2007 increased Works for snow removal and street repair. expenses less than 3.1 % over the previous 350 These expenses over budget were offset year. In addition, the Task Force reviewed by lower than budgeted expenses in health, the City’s progress in addressing the rec- Civil Unions workers compensation and general liability ommendations of the previous Task Force. 47 insurances. In prior years, the rate of growth The reports and recommendations of of expenditures for these insurances signifi- the first, second and most recently the third Dog cantly exceeded the rate of inflation. This Citizen Task Forces are available on the City’s Licenses was a major factor in the high rate of growth website. The work of the several Task Forces 1,471 in City expenditures. The moderation of has helped the City moderate the growth in these expenditures reflected the develop- City expenditures, improve revenues, restruc - ment of strong risk management and ture programs and services and address employee wellness programs and competi- important issues such as rebuilding the city tively bidding these programs for the first infrastructure. time in 15 years. Five Year Capital Improvements Funding Street Repaving Plan The unusual weather in the spring of 2008 The City typically undertakes multi-million and the general deterioration of City streets dollar capital improvements each fiscal over many years resulted in an unsatisfac- year. In the fall of 2006, Mayor Kiss asked tory condition for many City streets. As a the City Engineer’s Division of the Depart- response, in March 2008 the Mayor pro- ment of Public Works to develop and insti- posed and the Council adopted an amend- tute a comprehensive planning and review ment to the FY 2008 Capital Budget to process to coordinate and prioritize the make a special appropriation of $500,000 capital improvements projects of the City’s to resurface more than 6 lane miles of city General Fund departments. The City Engi- streets. This appropriation was a significant neer’s Division developed a comprehensive addition to the annual budget for street methodology to identify, review and prioritize and sidewalk maintenance enabling the proposed projects. This process culminated Department of Public Works to more than in the development of a comprehensive five double the street repaving program this year. year plan which was proposed by Mayor Kiss and the Board of Finance and approved by the City Council as the Capital Improve- ments Budget for Fiscal Year 2008.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Clerk/Treasurer continued Code Enforcement

Retirement Fund and Task Force Credit Rating, Bonds and In April, 2006 Mayor Kiss appointed a Special Financings Task Force on the Burlington Employees In December 2007 the City issued $2.75 Retirement System (BERS). In May, 2006 the million in General Obligation Bonds includ- Task Force issued a preliminary report to ing $1 million for capital improvements the Mayor and City Council with recom- each for the City and Electric Department mendations to reduce the administrative and $750,000 for the School Department. and investment management costs of the In conjunction with this bond issue, Moody’s pension fund by $350,000 and to consider Investors Service conducted a full credit contracting with the State of Vermont Pen- rating review and reconfirmed the City’s sion Investment Committee (VPIC) to manage Aa3 credit rating. the investment of the City’s pension fund. This reconfirmation of the City’s strong These recommendations were adopted credit rating reflected the City’s effective by the City Council in June, 2006 and incor- budget management and continuing com- porated into the FY 2007 budget. Subse- mitment to strengthening its finances, as quently, the Retirement Board instituted well as the strong economy of Burlington. several changes to substantially reduce costs Important fiscal measures undertaken by and improve performance. On November the City included the continued commitment 1, 2007, the City transferred approximately to full funding of the annual obligation to $111 million or 90% of the BERS investments the Retirement System, the small increase to the VPIC for investment management. in expenditures in the FY 2008 budget and Through FY 2007 the Task Force contin- the continuing success of efforts to increase ued with a review of the Retirement System the City’s financial reserves. and released a report with findings and rec- In August 2007 the City completed the ommendations in July 2007. The report rec- lease/purchase financing for Burlington ommended a restructuring of benefits, the Telecom for $33.5 million, competitively bid issuance of a Pension Obligation Bond to in May 2007. This financing included refi- pay for the unfunded liability of the system, nancing the $22.3 million of original financ- and to remove the pensions system from ing and provided an additional $10 million collective bargaining. It is expected that for the continued build out of the City’s fiber these recommendations will be the subject optic network. The lease/purchase financing of collective bargaining as labor contracts pledges the revenues and assets of Burling- expire in June 2009. ton Telecom. With the downturn in the economy, the Licenses and Records assets of the BERS decreased $9,201,673 or The administrative activities of the Office 7% in FY 2008 from $127,743,711 to include the coordination of elections, the $118,542,038. The annual actuarial valuation issuance of licenses and permits, as well as for June 30, 2007 set forth an actuarial valu- vital and land records. During the past year ation of assets of approximately $119.8 we issued and recorded the following: million and a pension obligation of $150 million. The net unfunded obligation of • 88 First-class Liquor Licenses $29.8 million reflects a level of 80% funding • 47 Second-class Liquor Licenses of the City’s liabilities. • 959 Property Transfers In the fall of 2007, the City negotiated • 1,471 Dog Licenses contracts with the Fire and International Appreciation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions to In closing, I want to acknowledge the dedi- adopt the changes in retirement benefits cation and commitment of the staff of the and to increase employees’ contributions to Clerk/Treasurer’s Office. The City benefits the retirement system as previously adopted greatly from their dedicated and high qual- by the AFSCME and Police unions. While ity service. further changes will be necessary to moder- ate the cost of the retirement system, the changes approved to date will strengthen the system and reduce costs in future years.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Office of the City Clerk/Treasurer continued Code Enforcement

he Code Enforcement office provides • Parking on lawns and other parking in Tenforcement and education for a range violation of property site plans; of ordinances and regulations in three broad • Pesticide/herbicide ordinance and other categories: housing, zoning and health. environmental hazard abatement; Minimum Housing Program • Greenbelt sign regulations; and • Overgrown vegetation. • Maintains a registry of approximately 10,000 rental dwelling units; Board of Health • Conducts routine inspections of all rental Code Enforcement staff works closely with units and provides enforcement of the the Burlington Board of Health, a citizen City’s minimum-housing standards and advisory board appointed by the City other related regulations; Council. Chaired by Alan Sousie, additional • Provides funds for tenant advocacy and members are Mary Hart, Fern Crete, Jay support services through Vermont Tenants; Vos, and Ian Galbraith. The Board has lim- • Provides funds for services to rental ited statutory responsibility for the preven- Kathleen property owners through the Vermont tion, removal or destruction of public health Butler Apartment Owners Association; and hazards and the mitigation of public health Director • Provides ongoing education to rental risks. The Board recommends deputy health property owners and tenants about re- officer appointments and is the hearing and quirements and resources for compliance. appeal body for health orders issued in Burl - Inspector training is an important focus ington. The Board took testi mony and of the department. Inspectors completed made recommendations regarding a Burl - specialized training for lead inspector certi- ington hookah warning rule, a new City fication, residential mechanical systems, stormwater ordinance, and revisions of the storm water requirements, Vermont Health minimum housing standards to incorporate Department asbestos and lead workshops, State lead regulations. departmental cross training for zoning en- A primary function of the Board is public forcement, and refugee cultural orientation. health education. This year the Board held Goals for the coming year include inspector public hearings and produced educational certification through the American Associa- materials and programming on a variety of tion of Code Enforcement. issues, including domestic violence, pro- Zoning Enforcement posed revisions to the pesticide ordinance, alternatives to chemical pesticides, water • Investigation, documentation, and en- fluoridation, as well as fluoride and infant forcement for zoning ordinance viola- formula preparation. tions; and • Processing and issuance of zoning certifi- Community Partnerships cates of occupancy. This year we continued to strengthen our This year we implemented improved collaborative efforts with community part- zoning enforcement and customer service ners, particularly Vermont Tenants, Burling- with coordinated interdepartmental zoning ton Housing Authority, the UVM Office of complaint protocols and zoning certificate Student and Community Relations, the Ver- of occupancy protocols. In the coming year, mont Apartment Owners Association, the the Mayor’s interdepartmental permitting Vermont Department of Health, Champlain group plans to simplify the certificate of Housing Trust, the Chittenden Solid Waste occupancy (CO) process for property owners District, and Recycle North. We thank these by implementing a joint CO protocol for and all our community partners for the shared building and zoning permits. information, resources, workshops, and Additional Code Enforcement responsi- events in support of community education, bilities include street patrol and complaint safe housing, and livable neighborhoods. response for exterior property and neigh- The minimum standards for rental prop- borhood problems such as: erties and more information about the • Trash and furniture at the exterior of Code Department may be found on line at properties and in the greenbelt; www.ci.burlington.vt.us/codeenforcement/ • Exterior property dilapidation and vacant or by contacting the Code complaint line at building ordinance enforcement; (802) 863-0442.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Community & Economic Development Office

he Community and Economic Develop- building on Pine Street, with 70 new hires Tment Office works with the community and four new workforce training programs. to foster economic vitality; preserve and • CDBG expenditures on economic devel- enhance neighborhoods, quality of life, and opment leveraged over $78 million in pri- the environment; and promote equity and vate and other public investment and opportunity for all residents of Burlington. supported the development and/or reno- CEDO is the lead City agency for planning vation of 38,880 sq. ft. of commercial and implementing the City’s affordable space, with increased property tax rev- housing, economic development, and anti- enues of $370,604 and increased rooms poverty agendas, and provides a range of and meals revenues of $133,288. community engagement, prevention, inter- vention, and restorative services. CEDO CEDO is charged to develop, coordinate, administers a wide variety of grant programs, implement, and administer economic and which both fund CEDO’s activities and sup- community development strategies and Larry port the local nonprofit infrastructure. projects for the City. This year: Kupferman Highlights of our activities are described • CEDO rewrote the Consolidated Plan for Director below, particularly as they relate to our de- Housing & Community Development, which partmental purpose as defined by the City is the City’s comprehensive community Charter: and economic development strategy. Community and Economic • CEDO worked with the Federal Reserve Development Bank of Boston’s New England Public Policy Center to conduct a research proj- CEDO is charged to work on behalf of the ect on the software and technology city to stimulate investment and to attract, industry, finding that the Chittenden retain, and encourage the development of County region has 50% more people on both existing and new economic enterprises. average working in the technology field This year: than in the nation. Related to this research, • Economic development activities sup- ported the start-up of 39 new businesses, helped to retain/expand 49 businesses, and led to the cre- ation of 370.5 per- manent FTE jobs (plus 1,318 construc- tion jobs) and reten- tion of 443 permanent FTE jobs. • Major developments included Burton Snowboard’s deci- sion to stay in the city and to purchase the structure next to their existing build- ing, keeping 360 jobs here with 275 new jobs expected over the next five years, and Dealer.com’s pur- chase of the remain- der of the former Specialty Filaments

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Community & Economic Development Office

• CEDO helped to sponsor the first Vermont those at Northgate and Heineberg. The 3.0 Creative Tech Career Jam. The VT refinancing of 80 units at Salmon Run is Software Developers Alliance, created underway. three years ago with CEDO’s support, • With the help of Section 108, CDBG, was able to hire its first Executive Director. HOME and/or Housing Trust Fund dollars • CEDO’s Americorps*VISTA program, in (together with technical assistance), the its fourteenth year, placed 36 members in 32-unit Co-Housing project on East Avenue 31 community agencies. Those members is complete; 22 new rental units are managed 3,646 volunteers who performed under construction on King Street, as are 77,915 hours of service. They also raised 12 new transitional units for victims of $282,000 in cash and in-kind donations. domestic violence at Sophie’s Place; and During 2008, the VISTA program lever- predevelopment work is underway at aged a value of over $1.6 million for the Browns Court. community. • Forty housing units were rehabbed, with • Recognizing changing demographics and work ranging from new paint to emer- changing needs in Burlington, CEDO’s gency repairs to major rehabilitation. Center for Community and Neighbor- • Housing development and rehab activi- hoods (CCAN) convened community ties added close to another $150,000 in leaders to strategize about how to ad- property tax revenues this year. dress issues of racial and social inequity. Waterfront Development Throughout 2008, CCAN crafted the “We CEDO is charged to develop, coordinate, All Belong” initiative to foster a greater implement, and administer waterfront sense of shared community for all development activities other than those Burlington citizens. “We All Belong” will activities which the Planning Commission develop the capacity and leadership skills and the city council must exercise under the of underrepresented people while pro- Vermont Planning and Development Act. viding support to schools and non-gov- This year: ernmental organizations to meet • After 65% of Burlington voters approved changing needs of diverse populations. a proposal to redevelop the Moran Plant, The initiative is primarily tailored to reach CEDO began working with other city de- the school community and those most partments and city partners on next affected by poverty. steps, which include legal agreements • The Parallel Justice Commission worked between the city and its partners, addi- on a policy change at Fletcher Allen tional architectural and engineering serv- Health Care to ensure that victims’ bills ices, addressing city financing, and are not forwarded to a collections agency fundraising campaigns by the Community when they are not immediately paid by Sailing Center and Green Mountain Chil- Victims’ Compensation. This policy dren’s Museum. change led to the passage of statewide • CEDO organized and facilitated “scoping” legislation. meetings to work with residents to develop Housing alternatives for addressing transportation CEDO is charged to develop, coordinate, issues, problems, and opportunities implement, and administer a comprehen- around improving access to the waterfront, sive program to address the City’s housing and then presented design alternatives needs. This year, in addition to the rewrite online for public review. of the city’s Consolidated Plan for Housing • The Lake and College Street redevelop- & Community Development: ment project, supported with a $10 mil- • CEDO worked with the Burlington Hous- lion Commercial Revitalization Deduction ing Authority to preserve the affordability in 2003, became home to Merrill Lynch of the Randall/Gable Apartments. Over offices. Seventh Generation, headquar- the last five years, a total of 285 units tered in the building, is in the process of whose subsidies were expiring were pre- expanding into and renovating 10,000 served as affordable units, including sq. ft. and has hired 28 new employees.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Community & Economic Development Office continued

Citizen Participation Improvement Night event to discuss CEDO is charged to coordinate and facili- the proposed City Transportation tate citizen participation in economic and Plan. Over 400 Burlington residents community development with community participated in an evening of infor- organizations, city commissions, and the mation gathering, questions and Neighborhood Planning Assemblies. This answers, and identification of next year: steps. • CEDO managed the extensive public I As always, citizens selected through process to solicit feedback and comment the NPAs reviewed all Community from residents about the Moran Plant, Development Block Grant (CDBG) including numerous open houses and applications and made $703,924 public informational meetings, presenta- funding recommendations that were tions to all five of the NPAs, and the accepted by the Mayor and City establishment of a citizen-driven Moran Council. Advisory Group. I Citizen-generated neighborhood • CEDO continued to provide support to projects funded by CDBG and com- the City’s seven Neighborhood Planning pleted this year included new light- Assemblies. Over 1,600 people attended ing at the Heineberg Senior Center, community garden improvements throughout the city, and new play- ground equipment at Pomeroy and Schmanska Parks. • Over 800 residents participated in other events that encourage civic participation. I Over 250 people participated in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King day of service, organized by CEDO’s Ameri- Corps*VISTAs and including a Speak- Out, community service projects, and dinner. I CEDO coordinated a city-wide Green Up Day in May where 520 volunteers collected 299 bags of garbage, cleaned 631 green-belts and removed 160 tires. I Over 200 residents attended the eighth annual Neighborhood Night of Success, a dinner and award cele- bration recognizing the people who make Burlington a great place to live, work, and play. • CEDO continued to foster community participation in resolving conflicts, sup- NPA meetings this year, participating in a porting victims of crime and holding forum for communication between resi- offenders accountable. dents, City and other government enti- I The Restorative Justice Program and ties to discuss issues of development, the Community Support Program planning, elections, budgets, community helped 408 individuals to work out safety and other social issues facing our their own community conflicts or to neighborhoods. repair harm to victims and other I Building on Vermont’s history of ac- community members caused by their tive and engaged Town Meetings, low level crime. each NPA hosted a Neighborhood

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Community & Economic Development Office continued

I Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime AmeriCorps*State, a sister program to engaged businesses, community AmeriCorps*VISTA will provide increased members, and local/state govern- capacity for agencies to do direct service ment to support 244 victims of with Burlington’s low-income and newly crime. An additional 899 individuals resettled populations. were contacted and offered informa- tion, support, and services. I The Offender Reentry Employment Program worked with over 30 em- ployers this year, including the Lead Abatement program, and assisted nearly 300 people in securing em- ployment via a weekly job meeting. CDBG and Other Grant Activities CEDO is charged to administer Community Development Block Grants and Urban Development Action grants and to manage such grants-in-aid programs in accordance with the laws and regulations pertaining thereto. This year: • CEDO administered 27 CDBG subgrants to 19 different community nonprofit agencies. • With the help of these grants, over 5,300 people (adults and children) were fed by anti-hunger programs; over 1,100 home- less people (including families with chil- dren and victims of domestic violence) had a safe, warm place to sleep; over 2,700 people kept their heat on; 575 youth participated in CDBG-funded sum- mertime and after-school recreational, academic and social enrichment programs; and over 600 seniors received meals, health care, help with public benefits, in-home assistance and/or participated in social activities.

CEDO is charged to recommend to the city council, and to solicit on behalf of the city council, grants-in-aid funds for the City. This year: • CEDO successfully competed for a $2.8 million Lead Hazard Reduction grant to help protect the Burlington’s children from lead paint poisoning. • CEDO successfully competed for a $274,000 grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service to create an AmeriCorps*State team to support the We All Belong Initiative. Thirty-five members will begin their service at sev- enteen area agencies and city departments.

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Electric Department

s fuel costs increase everywhere and come a model for others around the coun- Amany factors such as weather and the try and the world. These services provide depletion of fossil fuel remain outside of Burlington homes and businesses with a our control, Burlington Electric Department complete range of solutions for all of their continues to move forward with energy effi- efficiency needs. Through 2007, more than ciency and renewable energy, knowing that $16 million has been invested by BED in ef- this will be the way we successfully transi- ficiency efforts. This money has leveraged tion to a post-fossil fuel economy. an additional $16 million from customers The 2008 Integrated Resource Plan, still for a total of $32 million. During 2007 in draft form in FY08, has a goal of dramati- alone, BED saved 9,296 Megawatt hours cally increasing energy efficiency and mov- (mWh) of energy from installed efficiency ing BED toward a 100 percent renewable measures, which will result in 121,761 mWh energy mix, a goal that is dramatically of savings over the useful life of the installed above what most utilities are hoping to measures (2007 measures have a weighted Barbara achieve in the near term. The energy effi- lifetime of 13 years). This is equivalent to Grimes ciency programs that have been going providing energy to about 1,696 Burlington General strong since Burlington voters approved an residential customers for 13 years. Manager Energy Efficiency Bond in 1990 have been Harder to quantify but of increasing so successful that in FY08 Burlington as a importance to BED customers are the emis- whole used only 1 percent more electricity sions avoided by decreasing the need for than in 1989, the year before the bond electricity generation. Because of the energy vote. Today, BED customers (like all others savings (9,296 mWh) generated by energy statewide) pay a small monthly charge that efficiency programs in 2007 alone, Burling- supports BED’s energy efficiency efforts. ton will have avoided the release of 78,000 Not only do energy efficiency and renew- tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the equiva- able energy help our environment but lent of removing about 2,200 cars from U.S. these dollars stay local and provide an eco- highways each year for the next 13 years. nomic boost to the region. Power Supply The voters of Burlington approved a In FY08, the McNeil Generating Station $39.6 million bond in March 2008 to fund produced 286,140 net megawatt-hours of many new projects. The cost of the bond power (equal to the power used by 47,690 will be funded through efficiencies and rev- Burlington-sized residences for a year). The enues generated by these projects, which plant consumed 412,629 tons of wood. include a NOx (nitrogen oxide) reduction Sixty-seven percent of BED’s power supply unit at McNeil. Once added, the NOx emis- in FY08 came from renewable energy sions from the wood-chip facility will be cut sources, primarily from McNeil and hydro- in half and McNeil power will be able to be electric facilities. Eleven percent came from sold in the profitable Renewable Energy natural gas generators, 10 percent from nu- Credit markets in Connecticut. clear generators, 4 percent from coal and 2 Risk Management successfully prepared percent from oil. and produced documentation for an off-site compliance audit of Reliability Standards Engineering and Operations set forth by North American Electric Relia- In FY08 the Engineering and Operations bility Corporation (NERC) and the North- groups concentrated their efforts on improv - east Power Coordinating Council (NPCC). ing system reliability through upgrades to According to these two entities, the evi- the City’s electrical infrastructure and dence provided to demonstrate compliance exploring ways to reduce outages. BED was complete and well organized. continued to make improvements to its aer- Energy Efficiency ial facilities on Farrington Parkway, Marshall Drive, Goss Court, Heineberg Road, Ethan Since the authorization of the energy effi- Allen Parkway, Plattsburgh Avenue, Sky ciency bond in 1990, BED has developed Drive, Venus Avenue and Turf Road. In ad- and administered programs that have be- dition, BED upgraded the underground in-

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Electric Department

frastructure on Bilodeau Court, Crescent to major cost increases in both transmission Beach Drive, Randy Lane, Dodds Court and fees (in Vermont and BED’s share of New two large sections of Lakewood Estates. England system costs) and woodchip costs BED also rebuilt the “A” jet of the Gas Tur- for the McNeil station, which were 8.6 per- bine generator. BED continued to work on cent higher than planned. Although BED the East Avenue Loop (EAL) transmission was able to meet its debt coverage obliga- upgrade project with VELCO and GMP. This tion, the combined effect meant that BED project will provide Burlington with a backup reported a net loss for the year of feed from VELCO’s transmission grid to $512,000. BED’s East Avenue Substation, increasing BED continued to meet its fiscal obliga- the overall reliability of BED’s system. tions while reducing its long-term debt by Financial Information $5,491,700 or 9 percent. In addition, BED paid the City of Burlington $1,422,100 in FY08 was a challenging year financially for payment in lieu of taxes and remitted BED. Operating revenues were down 2.5 $1,555,200 in franchise fees collected on percent ($1,252,000) from budget due to behalf of the City. weather impacts and energy conservation by customers. Conversely, power supply costs were up over budget by 4.9 percent ($1,300,000). This increase was largely due

Aerial view of McNeil plant

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Fire Department

he Burlington Fire Department contin- effectiveness of our fire suppression efforts Tues to provide state of the art Fire Sup- improved by 5%. The reduction in the num- pression and Emergency Medical Care to ber of fires can be attributed to our strong citizens and visitors in our fine City. The De- fire prevention efforts, which include educa- partment combines these services with tion, inspection and enforcement of State Public Fire Education and Inspection pro- and local codes. The improvement in our grams that rival any community in the coun- firefighting effectiveness can be attributed try. I would like to take this opportunity to to the outstanding efforts of our firefight- express my appreciation to the men and ers, backed by a strong training program women of the Burlington Fire Department and well-maintained equipment. This 96.5% for their efforts over the past year. Without save rate reflects the $711,000 in property their efforts, the Fire Department could not lost to fire during FY 2008 compared to the have enhanced its ability to serve the Com- $19.5 million dollars worth of property munity. I also want to thank the elected and saved. During the preceding year we saved Michael E. appointed officials as well as the citizens of of 91.4% of the property, losing $1.8 million O’Neil Burlington that have enabled us to suc- in property, but saved $21 million dollars Chief ceed. worth. Ninety percent of the fires were held The men and women of the Burlington to the room of origin this year. Fire Department provide citizens with a Emergency Medical Division level of protection and prevention they The Burlington Fire Department’s two am- should be proud of. During FY 2008, bulances continue to be the busiest in the Burlington experienced 3.7% less fires in state responding to nearly 5000 emergency occupied buildings than last year, while the calls annually. The firefighter/EMTs of this

Burlington Fire Department Command Team

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City of Burlington,Vermont Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Fire Department

department work very hard to provide the conducted. In addition, the Fire Marshall’s finest emergency medical care through on- office is responsible for determining the ori- going training, recertification and work ex- gin and cause of all significant fires occur- perience. The department provides both ring in the City. basic and advanced emergency care by The Office of the City Fire Marshal acts providing interventions such as intravenous as an information clearinghouse for the fluids, drug therapies and defibrillation. The more than 7000 calls received by the staff department responds to medical emergen- this year. It conducts the majority of the cies by utilizing a two-tiered response sys- Department’s public education programs, tem by sending the closest Engine Company including pubic service announcements and and Rescue unit. This type of response web-based information, and direct delivery gives us the ability to begin providing care of fire safety information on home heating within minutes of the call, routinely less to approximately 4500 homes in Burlington. than four minutes. New this year, we have The school-based programs include school purchased two Non-Invasive Carbon visits for 9 separate schools, including pre- Monoxide monitors. These machines give school through the fifth grade students, us the ability to quickly screen and identify reaching approximately 2500 children the amount of Carbon Monoxide within a through these programs. For the first time patient who has been potentially exposed this year, this training included over 100 to Carbon Monoxide. home-schooled students. Fire safety pro- Office of the City Fire Marshal grams were also delivered to high risk audi- ences, including more than 600 college The Office of the City Fire Marshal is com- students. Additional programs have been mitted to reducing the loss of lives and delivered for staff at places of assembly. property in Burlington. The office meets Facilities safety training for the business this goal primarily through voluntary com- community has included crowd manage- pliance with applicable codes and ordi- ment training, training for manmade and nances achieved through education and natural events, and speaking engagements inspections. Fire Marshal staff review the with community and professional groups. design, installation and final testing of all required fire protection systems in all new and renovated buildings in the City. These systems include building fire pumps, sprin- kler systems, fire alarm and carbon monox- ide detection systems, commercial cooking suppression systems and specialty agent fire suppressions systems. This past year a total of 148 of these systems were installed in the city. This office also reviewed for compliance the test and inspection reports for existing FEMA Emergency Operations Training 1400-plus fire protection systems. The office has drafted a major re-write of our fire safety ordinance, which is now working its way through the City Council review process. This revision will facilitate open government by creating clear guidance. It will also streamline the inspection and en- forcement process by de-criminalizing all but the most serious violations. The office is responsible for conducting inspections of all State licensed occupancies. In total, more than 2220 of these inspections were

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City of Burlington,Vermont Burlington Housing Authority

ith its administrative offices located at Section 8 Project-Based W65 Main Street, the Burlington Hous- Developments ing Authority (BHA) provides affordable BHA now owns or manages more than 340 housing for low-income residents in the apartments assisted under the Section 8 City of Burlington and neighboring commu- project-based program or the Low Income nities. Our public housing apartments ac- Housing Tax Credit Program. A particular commodate seniors, people with disabilities, focus continues to be the acquisition and and families. Section 8 and related grants rehabilitation of privately owned Section 8 for people with special needs provide rental apartment buildings in the King Street assistance for approximately 1,800 house- neighborhood. holds in privately owned housing. We also New Affordable Housing own or manage over 350 other apartments, BHA focuses on the development of service most of which are federally subsidized. enriched housing for individuals and house- BHA receives no municipal tax dollars. Paul holds with special needs. In 2008, construc- Our programs are operated from rental in- Dettman tion began on Sophie’s Place, an 11 unit come and financial support from the U.S. Executive development for victims of domestic violence. Director Department of Housing and Urban Devel- opment (HUD). Annually, BHA brings over Resident Services $16 million in federal funds to Burlington In addition to affordable housing, BHA pro- and surrounding communities. For FY2008, vides a variety of services to its residents we made a payment in lieu of taxes to the and program participants: City of $61,143. • Our Family Self-Sufficiency Program assists Public Housing mores than 100 households in achieving their goals of financial self-sufficiency. BHA’s 343 units of public housing are located Over 30 percent of these families are in five developments: Decker Towers, Cham - building savings accounts for homeowner- plain Apartments, Riverside Apartments, ship or other goals. Franklin Square, and Hillside Terrace. • In 2008, BHA launched a Skills for Life Thanks to a sustained team effort by our program in our public housing develop- staff, BHA continues to maintain “High Per- ments, assisting residents to achieve em- former” status under HUD’s Public Housing ployment, education and economic goals. Assessment System. We have developed a • In partnership with Fletcher Allen, BHA 10-Year Capital Improvement Plan, which established a Wellness Program in all ensures that our public housing buildings and three of our high-rises. The Wellness pro- units will be maintained in excellent condition. gram provides tenants with on-site nursing Section 8 and Related Programs staff for care management, information, Our Housing Choice Voucher Program, referral, and limited home-care services. which has tripled in size over the past ten • Our DREAM program, a collaboration years and now serves over 1,700 families, with students from Saint Michael’s Col- has also been declared a “High Performer” lege, provides mentoring services to chil- by HUD. As part of that program, we have dren at Franklin Square Apartments and initiated a project-based subsidy program, Riverside Apartments. which has supported many new affordable • The Offender Re-Entry Housing Program housing developments in Burlington and assists offenders returning to our commu- neighboring communities. We also provide nity to find and maintain appropriate rental assistance under a number of other housing. programs serving special needs populations. • Our African Immigrant Initiative employs a Our Section 8 Homeownership Voucher case manager/interpreter who assists Somali program, which allows subsidy holders to use Bantu and other immigrants living in hous- their rental assistance for homeownership, ing operated by the Burlington and Winooski helped more than 85 families to become Housing Authorities. homeowners, and remains one of the most • Our Technology Center for BHA program successful programs of its kind in the nation. participants at Decker Towers will soon be expanded to include satellite centers at other public housing developments.

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Annual Financial Report 2008 Human Resources

he Human Resources (HR) department the Howard Center’s Project Hire which is Tsupports City employees and managers dedicated to providing supported employ- by providing assistance in the following ment services to individuals with disabilities areas: labor and employee relations, re- seeking competitive employment. cruitment and hiring, benefits administra- Healthcare, Safety and Wellness tion, workers compensation insurance As a result of successful negotiations with claims and loss prevention, wellness activi- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont in FY08, ties, employee development, and ADA and the City’s costs for healthcare will only rise EEO compliance. HR also supports the City by just over 10 percent. The City pursued Council Institutions & Human Resources several wellness initiatives in FY08. With the Policy Committee. assistance of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a The HR department experienced a sig- Wellness Committee was formed made up nificant amount of transition during this last of employees of all levels in various city de- year. Lynne Perry retired as Benefits and partments. The Committee’s work has in- Insurance Administrator and was succeeded Kristin cluded encouraging lifestyle changes by by Julie Palagonia in October. In February Lonerwright providing a 50% subsidy to city employees 2008, Director Larry Kupferman left the Director for participation in weight loss programs, department to assume the CEDO Director- assisting with the redesign and upgrade of ship and Kristin Lonerwright, previously an equipment in an employee fitness room lo- HR Generalist, was promoted and appointed cated at DPW, and providing Pilates classes Director. Aditeei Manjaramkar was hired and to employees. In addition, the Wellness now serves as the second HR Generalist for Committee has sponsored a series of Well- the city. ness Fairs throughout the city during which Recruiting and Hiring employees were provided the opportunity The HR department leads the City’s efforts to consult with a nutritionist, participate in to recruit well qualified candidates. More cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, than 1200 applications were received and complete Personal Health Assessments, processed for 75 regular vacant city posi- and receive flu shots. tions. Hiring paperwork for approximately 450 temporary and seasonal employees was received and processed by the depart- ment. In addition, the department processed 375 criminal background record checks on applicants hired to work in posi- tions with vulnerable populations. In this past year, the department continued its ef- fort to diversify the workforce by increasing the city’s recruitment, hiring and retention of staff members from diverse racial and ethnic communities. Community Support Once again, the HR department, with help from staff at Burlington Electric Department, Department of Public Works and represen- tatives from all other City departments, coordinated and raised funds to support the City’s United Way campaign. HR also coordinated the annual American Cancer Society “Daffodil Day” and continues to work with employees who are members of the armed services in support of their serv- ice requirements. In addition, HR supports

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City of Burlington,Vermont Human Resources continued

In an effort to continue to promote pre- James Strouse, Robert Hooper and Donald vention, a physical therapist from Injury & Horenstein, appointed by the City Council; Health Management Solutions (IHMS), visits CAO Jonathan Leopold (ex-officio); Thomas employees to evaluate minor aches and Middleton, Asst. Fire Marshal and Sgt. John pains through a Preventative Body Mainte- C. Lewis, elected by the Class “A” employees; nance program. This program teaches em- and Kenneth Trombley and Paul Paquette, ployees how to properly care for aches and elected by the Class “B” employees. pains before they become major work- The Board’s main area of focus has been place or non-work place injuries through the transfer of the Plan Assets to the Vermont stretching and simple exercises. Pension Investment Committee, as directed In March 2008, in conjunction with by the City Council. The goal is that a higher Hickok and Boardman and Traveler’s Insur- return will be achieved at reduced cost. The ance, HR coordinated and facilitated a day Board voted to retain and oversee 10% of long Safety Summit. The Summit provided the total BERS fund and is examining Asset department heads and supervisors with an Class Alternatives to complement the VPIC overview of the goals of the risk manage- portfolio in order to further enhance return. ment program and covered topics such as The market value of plan assets as of worker’s compensation law, work place in- 3/31/2008 was $119,269,941.00. The plan’s juries, management of current injuries, and performance for the one year, three year prevention of future occurrences. A similar and since 12/2001 periods ending March summit will be developed and made avail- 31st was -1.5%, 7.5% and 5.6% respectively. able to all employees throughout the city in There remains concern that the plan assets the coming year. continue to be less than the plan actuarial Retirement Office Highlights liabilities. At the time of this writing there are 820 active members of the Retirement The mission of the Retirement Board is to System, 422 retirees and beneficiaries, and be trustees of the funds of the retirement 356 members who have left service with system. The members have the authority to vested benefits. Pension benefits average invest funds, determine asset allocation $570,000 per month. within guidelines, develop the guidelines, and hire such managers and consultants as may be needed. Members also set policy, have the responsibility for the proper oper- ation of the retirement system, and make decisions on disability applications and fol- low-ups. The members of the Board are:

Job board at the HR Department 44 AR 08:AR 08 Feb/11/09 2:58 PM Page 45

Annual Financial Report 2008 Fletcher Free Library

he Fletcher Free Library serves the people apply for jobs, write resumes, and Tevolving educational and cultural needs brush up on their computer skills. Our of the Greater Burlington community. Our public access Computer Center had over library offers a welcoming place for people 60,000 users in the past year! to gather and learn. A trained staff helps • In December 2007, the Fletcher Free patrons locate the materials and informa- began offering classes for individuals in tion they need for work and pleasure. Our the Burlington community who are work- Board of Commissioners are: Philip Baruth, ing towards gaining U.S. citizenship. Deb Barnum, Sarah Cohen, Deborah Emer- During the past two years, the Library son, Rebecca Goldberg, Doug Mont- has provided programs for area residents gomery, Co-Chair, Anne Nixon, Amelia from 51 different countries! Schlossberg, Michael Schultz, Chair, Linda • Capital funds from the City budget were Severance-Smith, and Lajiri Van Ness- used to clean the Library’s HVAC system Robert Resnik, Otunnu. this year, resulting in a healthier building Amber Collins, Highlights of a Busy and for everyone. and Successful Year • For more than 5 years the Library has Robert Coleburn benefited from volunteer time con- • Our usage statistics continue to climb – Co-Directors tributed by the Community Service pro- this year the total number of books gram at Champlain College. Last year, checked out and the number of people more than 20 Champlain volunteers using the Library building were our high- worked in our busy public access est numbers ever! Computer Center. • Completion of the Library’s latest long • The Library’s outreach department suc- range plan, developed by the Library Co- cessfully applied for a Community Devel- Directors with help and input from the opment Block Grant (CDBG) for the staff, library consultant Lawrence Web- Library’s Outreach/ESL VISTA position. ster, and from a diverse Community Plan- • In February 2008 the Library acquired ning Committee comprised of Burlington new shelving for much-needed storage residents that met in spring 2007. purchased with about $15,000 in devel- • This year’s Summer Reading Program opment “impact fees.” Impact fees also was an all-time record-breaker, with 1190 funded a new fire door with a keyless Burlington children taking part at the entry system in the rear of the Carnegie Library building or at outreach sites building. around the City. The program was helped by a generous $5,000 grant from Burling- ton-based Dwight Asset Management Group. • In May 2008, the Library celebrated the 10th anniversary of the release of “Like the Birdies Sing,” the first of a series of 3 sing-along CDs released along with the Library’s regular sing-along programs. The project has raised more than $25,000 to help the Library pay for special pro- grams. The production of a fourth sing- along CD is in process. • Thank you to IBM of Essex Junction for donating 16 desktop computers. Since 2001, IBM has donated 56 desktop PC’s and 20 laptops to the Library. IBM has been a vital partner with us in solving “Digital Divide” and computer literacy is- sues in our community. The Library helps

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City of Burlington,Vermont Fletcher Free Library continued

Partnerships The Burlington branch of the Women’s In- ternational League for Peace and Freedom held a series of events in the Library to cel- ebrate Women’s History Month. The popu- lar First Wednesday Lecture Series is presented in tandem with the Vermont Council on the Humanities. Other partner- LIBRARY ships this year include: Connections, a col- FACTS laborative book delivery program with the (FY 07-08) Burlington high school and middle school Number of items libraries; the Library’s continuing role in the in the Fletcher Burlington Book Festival; and another edi- Free Library’s tion of “Welcome Baby,” a program for collection new parents co-produced with the Visiting reporting station. This past summer, we had FY 07: 131,270 Nurses Association. Special thanks to Bicy- 15 teen volunteers provide over 150 hours FY 08: 135,963 cle Planner Nicole Losch and the equip- of service. Some teens will continue to de- ment maintenance crew at DPW, who velop their skills in working with children by Library helped the Library acquired a new bike rack leading story and song programs twice a cardholders for only $50. The DPW equipment crew month at the library. FY 07: 14,066 agreed to donate their labor, saving the Finally, digital literacy has extended to FY 08: 14,264 City the cost of installing a new bike rack teaching teens and young people basic that would have totaled over $1,200! programming tools. Several classes have Hours of opera- Youth Department Focuses on used Scratch and Blender, free software, to tion per week Expanding Services to Teens introduce teens to programming their own FY 07: 65 games and animations on the computer. FY 08: 65 A number of successful grant applications, managed by our Youth Librarians and by The Invaluable Friends of Number of our wonderful Youth VISTA worker Cara Our Library special programs Lovell, have allowed the youth department Once again, the Friends of the Fletcher offered to start many programs for teens this year. Free Library organized and managed the FY 07: 355 A grant from Young Adult Library Serv- Library’s Used Book Sale this year, raising FY 08: 462 ices Associations provided funds for about $9000 to help fund Library programs videogame tournaments, along with a gen- and services. The Friends also continued Number of out- erous private donation for gaming equip- their successful Booked For Lunch series reach deliveries ment. Two grants have also jumpstarted and inaugurated a new project: The Book FY 07: 332 teen book clubs. The Vermont Community Stall, the Friends’ library store, which is FY 08: 400 Foundation gave $4,000 and the Paul Post located directly across from the main circu- Fund gave $1,000 to encourage young Number of items lation desk. Other Friends funding projects people to discuss books. Participants are checked out this year included: given their own copies of the books to read and/or renewed • The lease and maintenance of the Library’s over the month and discuss in the group. FY 07: 338,314 public copy machine; Vermont authors Geof Hewitt, Erik Esck- FY 08: 360,197 • Entertaining our sister city librarians from ilsen, Tanya Lee Stone, and Doug Wilhelm Yaroslavl, Russia when they visited have all visited the Library to talk about the Burlington this year; books the group has read. • Honoraria for the Library’s Children’s A Teen Advisory Board was formed dur- Author Series; ing this year to weigh in on what books • Costs for the Library’s First Wednesday should be ordered for the Teen Area and Speaker Series; what programs would be most successful. • Helping to fund new carpeting for the They have also painted parts of the Teen Library’s Teen Area; and Area, created displays, sorted donations for • Costs of temporary custodial help from a book drive, and more. the State Department of Corrections. Teen volunteers have served as role models at the Summer Reading Program

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Annual Financial Report 2008

Looking Forward Special “Thank Yous”: • Plans are underway for a new remote We would like to express special apprecia- server for the Library’s computer system, tion to long-time Library custodian Doug allowing the Library to increase system Chamberlain, who moved into a new job in security with less hardware. the Library’s technical services department • In fall 2008, a new paved walkway on the and to long-time volunteer Gigi Weisman, east side of the building and a brick path who has been performing for Library sing- on a much-traveled shortcut across the along’s and outreach programs for more Library lawn will be installed. than ten years. Thank you as well to: Ted LIBRARY • We plan to expand our community out- Horton, a Fletcher Free volunteer and IBM FACTS reach this year by offering more pro- employee who has taught the Library’s (FY 07-08) grams in the neighborhoods to popular Intro to Windows and Excel com- Interlibrary loan compliment “virtual” Library services cur- puter workshops for years; Deb Lashman, transactions rently available on the Library’s website. who stepped down this year after chairing FY 07: 2,243 the Board of Commissioners since 2003; FY 08: 2,566 and outreach librarian Barbara Shatara, who has served faithfully as the Library’s staff Total volunteer representative on the Library Board for the hours past three years. FY 07: 9,382 FY 08: 10,885

Adult & Youth reference ques- tions asked FY 07: 31,172 FY 08: 28,695

Total annual visits (counted at the Library’s front door) FY 07: 251,258 FY 08: 253,063

Number of people using the Com- puter Centers FY 07: 65,982 FY 08: 65,400

Number of peo- ple using Wi-Fi access within the Library FY 07: 7,099 FY 08: 9,942

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City of Burlington,Vermont Parks & Recreation Department

uring the past year, Parks and Recre- • FY08 Budget – based on preliminary Dation continued to focus on its mission numbers it appears that the Department of providing high quality recreation pro- has again done a good job of managing grams and events and managing our sys- an operating budget of more than $4 mil- tem of parks, public trees, cemeteries and lion, with 75% of direct operating expenses the Burlington harbor for the use and en- covered through non-tax revenue. joyment of residents and visitors. • With the numerous additional responsi- The following highlights are among the bilities being assigned to the Department, many issues addressed by the Department: considerable discussion regarding restruc - • Moran Plant Redevelopment – the De- turing took place this year. There is a partment participated in many public need to finalize a plan in the near future. meetings and planning sessions to help shape the vision for the project and is ex- The following are goals that the Depart- Wayne E. cited with the prospect for improved in- ment wishes to address during FY09: frastructure at the northern end of • Completing a reorganization plan that Gross, C.L.P. Director Waterfront Park. addresses the management of the many • Conversion of Armory to Community new responsibilities that have been Recreation Center – Commission Chair assigned to the Department. John Ewing led a group of citizens to • Updating the Department’s Long-Range develop a creative approach to the reno- Plan. vation and operation of the Armory as an • Pursuing a source of capital funding for affordable community recreation center. parks. With the plan approved by the Mayor • Evaluating opportunities for revenue and City Council, private fundraising ef- enhancement and department operation forts were undertaken by Commissioner efficiencies. Ewing. Local developer Bobby Miller’s • Promoting professional staff development. generosity and expertise are allowing this • Continued development of beneficial project to go forward in early FY09 at partnerships between the Department considerable savings. and various community organizations and • Capital Needs for Parks – as the request the private sector. of the Commission, staff prepared a sum- • Incorporating sustainable decisions into mary of the capital needs for the park Department operations. system, which has capital assets of $40 Paquette Arena at Leddy Park million. The Commission believes that • Hosted the Theatre on Ice competition in more capital funding for these important conjunction with Vermont Childrens The- assets must be identified and will con- atre on Ice, featuring 30 teams and over tinue discussions with the Administration 500 competitors from all over the U.S. and City Council as to how this can best • Provided “home ice” for Burlington and be accomplished. Colchester boys and girls high school • After School Programs – considerable hockey teams, BAHA youth hockey, discussion with the Burlington School Vermont Glades junior hockey team, the District about after school opportunities expanded Glades Youth hockey program for our youth led to a collaborative pilot as well as Full Stride hockey leagues, program at Flynn Elementary School in Green Mountain Avalanche leagues and the 2008-2009 school year. The pilot con- numerous private groups. solidates the City Kids program and the • Hosted the annual Burchard and Beech District’s enrichment programs into one high school hockey tournaments, as well after school offering under the child care as a Full Stride spring women’s tourna- license and administrative structure of ment, two Green Mountain Avalanche Parks and Recreation.. The goal has been select tournaments, a BAHA multi-level to design a program that can serve more tournament and the BAHA Mite Jamboree. participants and operate in a more effi- • Offered popular “Toddler Time” intro- cient manner. ductory clinics.

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Annual Financial Report 2008

• Hosted a unique October wedding when Burlington, Government Mule, The Tragi- a pair of skating enthusiasts rented out cally Hip, B.B. King, Go, Diego, Go!, 311, the entire facility for the night to celebrate the USAF Band, VJBJJ Mixed Martial Arts their nuptials. tournament, and Vermont Golden Gloves • Partnered with VNA Family Room to offer Boxing tournament. free weekly Itty Bitty Public Skating to 15 • Provided facility support at Memorial Au- new non-English speaking pre-school ditorium for several Parks and Recreation children. programs, including After School basket- • Renovations made to the front entry way. ball, 242 Main Rock & Roll Camp and • Hosted the year end Ice Show, “Magical Vermont Ballet Theatre recitals. Musicals, Broadway on Ice,” featuring • Hosted nine Vermont Frost Heaves home over 150 skaters from Parks & Recreation games at Memorial Auditorium. group lessons, Champlain Valley Skating • Rented dance and exercise facilities at Club, Ice Crystals Synchronized Skating the Memorial Loft to a full range of com- Team, Vermont Children’s Theatre on Ice munity groups and individuals. and On Thin Ice adult theatre troupe. Recreation Park Operations and • Burlington Area Community Gardens Maintenance Program was bursting at the seams with • Provided custodial services and building all 9 sites and nearly 380 plots rented this maintenance to City Hall, Firehouse past year. Center for the Visual Arts and the Police • Our partnership with the University of Department. Vermont PCom Consulting program • Continued to work with volunteers to through the office of Community Univer- oversee the operation and maintenance sity Partnership & Service Learning of two off leash dog areas. (CUPS) continues to flourish through their • Worked with the Vermont Corrections extensive involvement with the Burling- Department to provide opportunities for ton Winter Festival. restitution and court diversion work • The Burlington Bocce Club coordinated throughout the park system and other three community tournaments and spon- City facilities. sored Bocce Socials Sunday afternoons • Provided and maintained athletic fields during the summer. for numerous youth and adult sports • Our summer day camp, Champ Camp, leagues. continues to be popular with Burlington • Initiated a recycling program at Memorial residents and remains affordable due to Auditorium, City Hall Park, Waterfront Park, financial support from the State of Ver- Community Boathouse and the North mont. Participation increased in 2008 to Beach Campground and Beach area. 816 “camper weeks” from 644 in 2007. • Continued to host dozens of special events throughout the city including the Vermont City Marathon, Green Mountain Chew Chew, Brewer’s Festival, Kid’s Day, and Independence Day Celebration. • Facilitated the construction of new team dugouts at the Leddy Park softball field as part of an Eagle Scout project by Evan Bean. • Continued to install and maintain out- door skating facilities at Battery, Calahan, Roosevelt, Starr Farm, and Skate Parks. • Hosted a number of large events at Me- morial Auditorium including World Wrestling Entertainment, First Night

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City of Burlington,Vermont Parks & Recreation Department continued

• New Adult Programming, including sev- grade Basketball Tournament. Our OWN eral dance classes such as Tap and Clog- Burlington Bulls defeated the Burlington ging. Attendance in our Yoga programs Pacers in the championship game. Special doubled over the previous year. thank you to sponsor O’Neill, Kellner & • 242 Main Teen Club had a very successful Green! After School Music program with 30 • Playmobile was in full swing this past youth participating three days per week summer thanks to a Federal Grant and 2 throughout the school year. FUN-cilitator staff. This NEW traveling • Our Independence Day Celebration was activity mobile offered over 1200 youth again successful with sponsorship sup- hands on recreation, larger than life port of the Fireworks by the Chittenden games, arts and crafts, team building Bank, Pomerleau Agency and the Anto- activities and sports. nio & Rita Pomerleau Foundation.

Conservation Legacy Program • The Barnes Summer World Academy • Partnered with the DREAM program to combined morning academics and after- educate youth at Franklin Square about noon recreation. This new program was the Mt. Calvary Red Maple Wetland. the outgrowth of a successful collabora- • Trail work completed at Mt. Calvary Red tion with the Sarah Holbrook Community Maple Wetland. Center, Burlington School District and the • Launched an Invasive Plant Species Iden- State of Vermont. This program was sup- tification and Removal Program with sup- ported with private fundraising. port from The Nature Conservancy and • Summer Playground/Nutrition programs the Wise on Weeds Program. continue to be offered in 3 locations • Continued to monitor and maintain trails across the City. Funding for this program systems throughout Burlington’s natural is all privately fundraised. areas and parks. • New this past year was an offering of • Oversaw Friends of Ethan Allen Park and “Itty Bitty Basketball.” Tower and supported activities for Green- • We hosted the 2nd Annual Champlain Up Day in the Park and Tower. Valley Recreation Association 5th and 6th

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Annual Financial Report 2008

• Continued to support and promote the improvements included a concrete walk- TowerKeypers program, a volunteer way, new lighting and landscaping. group responsible for locking and unlock- • Completed the dredging of the boat slip ing the Ethan Allen Tower. basin at Perkins Pier and installed a new • Supported neighbors in their efforts to dock system. create Friends of Champlain Park and • Completed conceptual designs and cost gardening efforts by King Street Youth estimates for renovation of the main Center. parking lot and a new maintenance build- • Continued efforts to identify and select ing at Leddy Park. sites that should be preserved due to • Completed a conceptual design and cost their natural features. estimates for renovations to the Commu- • Continued to support and coordinate an nity Boathouse. Intervale Safety Committee with Burling- • Completed installation of pavers at the ton Police Department, Gardener’s Supply center circle at Battery Park, and installed Company, Intervale Center and Burling- a sand volleyball court in the park. ton Electric Department. • Installed a new and expanded play- • $75,000 allocated from the Conservation ground in the picnic area at North Beach. Legacy Fund to conserve 3.02 acres abut- • Installed playground equipment at ting Centennial Woods in November Schmanska and Baird Parks. 2007. Matching funds came from VHCB • Replaced 15 picnic grills and 25 picnic and UVM. tables in the park system. • Purchased 20 acres of natural area from • Repaired and resurfaced sections on the B.E.D., as part of the Intervale land sale. RT127 bike path. Trees and Greenways • Worked with “Circles for Peace” to help complete the Burlington Earth Clock at • Planted 128 street and park trees utilizing Oakledge Park. volunteers and contractual services. • Assisting a volunteer group, Friends of • Removed 66 dead and hazardous trees South End Baseball, in the conversion of and 55 stumps, and pruned 1,700 street the softball field at Calahan Park into a and park trees. youth baseball field. • Fertilized 270 street, cemetery and park • Continued with the planning process for trees. the renovation of the Gosse Court Armory • Sponsored Arbor Day activities at three into a Community Recreation Center. of Burlington’s elementary schools • Installed a new floor in a restroom build- • Received the Tree City USA award from ing and new campsite fire rings at North the National Arbor Day Foundation Beach campground. for the 14th consecutive year. • Coordinated and assisted Branch Out Burlington! in the implementation of the following projects: I Planted 110 trees in the Burlington Community Nursery.. I Organized a Summer Tree Walk on and around the Burlington water- front. • Continued All America Selections Flower Display Garden at Waterfront Park –a collaborative project with UVM Extension. Capital Projects • Received grant from the VTrans for improvements to Battery Park Extension from the upper fountain plaza to the lower plaza. Coordinated with DPW,

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City of Burlington,Vermont Department of Planning and Zoning

he Department of Planning and Zoning • 824 applications and determinations Tis responsible for comprehensive land were reviewed administratively of which use and development planning across the 99% were approved. 7 administrative de- city and administration of the City’s land cisions were appealed to the Develop- development regulations. Department staff ment Review Board (DRB). facilitates the preparation of long-range • 100 applications were reviewed by the land use plans including the city’s Municipal DRB of which 82% were approved. 13 Development Plan and other plans; con- DRB decisions (14%) were appealed to ducts special studies and inventories; and the Vermont Environmental Court. researches and drafts amendments to city Completion and Implementation ordinances. The Department also adminis- of the Zoning Re-Write ters all permitting and development review FY08 saw the completion of the much-an- functions under the City’s zoning and sub- ticipated Zoning Re-write. Department staff division regulations, and collaborates worked closely with City Councilors in con- David E. closely with Public Works and the Code En- sidering some 50 amendments from the White, AICP forcement Office in the administration of Planning Commission’s original recommen- Director other related city codes. The Department dation, and seeing the final ordinance serves as an important resource to the City through to adoption in January 2008. Since Council and Mayor, other city departments that time, staff has been working with the and commissions, neighborhood and com- Commission and Council to address a num- munity groups, and the public. ber of outstanding issues including institu- The Department’s work is guided by a 7- tional development and planned unit member volunteer Planning Commission development. The new Comprehensive De- appointed by the City Council that meets velopment Ordinance (CDO) is available in twice monthly to formulate land use and hardcopy and on CD, or online on the De- development policy and regulations. An- partment’s website at other 25 citizen volunteers actively partici- www.ci.burlington.vt.us/planning . pate in the planning process as members of the Development Review Board, Design Stormwater Management Advisory Board and Conservation Board to Program implement the City’s land use and develop- The Mayor’s Stormwater Taskforce, led by ment regulations. All of these volunteers Laurie Adams of the Department of Public dedicate hundreds of hours of their time Works and Scott Gustin of the Department and expertise to the improvement of the of Planning & Zoning, has devoted hun- City of Burlington. dreds of hours over many months to under- Fiscal Year 2008 brought many changes, standing the deficiencies of the City’s challenges, and opportunities. Here are just current approach and researching national a few highlights: best practices. The Taskforce has designed Record Breaking Year for Devel- a comprehensive program that improves opment Review and Permitting the City’s existing regulatory framework and processes, provides incentives for re- In FY08, a total of 952 zoning applications ducing impervious surfaces and improving and determination requests were accepted onsite stormwater management, and pro- by the Department representing a 14% in- vides financial and administrative resources crease from the previous year and the to ensure that the City can effectively im- greatest number of applications accepted plement the program. since computerized recordkeeping began eighteen years ago. FY08 zoning permit ac- Climate Action Plan Revision tivity included: Working in collaboration with the Legacy • A total estimated construction cost of Project, Department staff has begun to or- $111,162,492, including 102 new residen- ganize a revision to the City’s 2000 Climate tial units - a 15% increase from the previ- Action Plan (CAP). Planning and Legacy ous year. staff has prepared an inventory of the city’s

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Annual Financial Report 2008

greenhouse gas emissions, and invited citi- base component of AMANDA, and provide zens to join seven workgroups to establish technical support for all participating de- initiatives and actions to reduce the city’s partments using the system. Daily reports emissions. The Mayor formed a team of regarding permit activity are available on City staff, the Burlington Sustainability the Department’s website. Action Team (BSAT), to address climate Planning and Zoning staff also maintain change more specifically within City opera- the City’s Geographic Information System tions. For more information about this (GIS) working in collaboration with DPW project you can visit: www.cedo.ci.burling- and the City’s IT department. A GIS allows ton.vt.us/legacy users to analyze, view, and interpret infor- Historic Preservation Grants mation in a way that helps to reveal spatial relationships, patterns, and trends. The Department administers the city’s Cer- During the past fiscal year, several base tified Local Government Program (CLG) for layers were updated including roads, sur- historic preservation planning under an face water, railroad tracks, public lands, and agreement with the National Park Service tax parcels. The GIS was also used for revis- and the VT Division for Historic Preserva- ing zoning districts, supporting elections, tion. This program provides some federal the stormwater management program, funding for historic preservation-related property development, fire response analy- projects along with an opportunity to ac- sis, zoning administration, comprehensive tively participate in the review of federally planning, and inventory of the City’s water assisted development for potential impacts distribution system. Finally, GIS software and on historic and cultural resources. network have been upgraded to increase The Department and non-profit housing access by City employees, and a series of representatives partnered in an effort to web-based mapping applications are create a Multiple Property Documentation planned. (MPDF) listing to the National Register of Historic Places for Multi-Unit Worker Hous- Changing Faces – New and Old ing in Burlington. The MPDF will be used to David White, AICP, the Department’s for- nominate and register any thematically-re- mer Comprehensive Planner for the past 12 lated historic properties, streamlining an ef- years, was selected as the new Director of fort to both recognize and document the Planning and Zoning in July. Sandrine historic significance of specific types of Thibault, AICP, also started in February as dwellings. Listing on the National Register the Department’s new Comprehensive also makes available financial resources and Planner. tax credits for the rehabilitation of these structures. The Department has also been working to complete a Historic Sites and Structures Survey for the Five Sisters Neighborhood. A total of 224 properties were surveyed, of which 202 are considered contributing his- toric resources. Information System Management The City’s Application Management and Data Automation (AMANDA) system is inte- gral to managing the Department’s zoning review process. AMANDA is accessible by other City departments for the monitoring zoning permits, building permits, Code En- forcement activity, and land transfers in a single system organized by property. De- partment staff maintains the property data-

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City of Burlington,Vermont Burlington Police Department

Overview Against Children Task Force – now As a vision, mission and values based or- housed at Burlington PD with funding ganization we remain committed to com- from the U.S. Department of Justice. This munity policing and problem solving, effort was recognized in August of 2008 specifically our mission: “Policing with the with a visit by Senator Patrick Leahy and citizens of Burlington to achieve a safe, FBI Director Robert Mueller; healthy and self reliant community.” • Completion of the refit of police head- The past year brought on many changes quarters at 1 North Avenue with focus on and challenges for the Burlington Police energy efficiency and low maintenance Department. Chief Thomas R. Tremblay re- construction. This refit includes a signifi- tired after almost 25 years of service to the cantly larger community space for meet- citizens of Burlington to become Commis- ings, training, and other community sioner of Public Safety for the State of Ver- activities; mont. Lifelong Burlington resident Michael • Expanded services to victims of crime in Michael E. E. Schirling was appointed as the City’s partnership with Burlington’s Community Schirling 25th Chief of Police following a selection Justice Center via the Parallel Justice Chief process led by Mayor Bob Kiss and Police Project. Commission Chair Jerome O’Neil. Chief’s Message As we complete our tenth year using our current community policing model, in 2009 Each day our staff delivers high quality we’ll we look to the future with a commu- emergency response, investigation, and a nity-wide re-assessment of our policing wide range of services and problem solving strategies and a re-commitment to the suc- to the community. Annually, the 100 officers cessful strategies of community policing and 36 civilian personnel respond to and that have guided us through the past support approximately 38,000 calls for serv- decade. ice, 30,000 incidents, and conduct 3,000 I am very fortunate to have an outstand- criminal investigations. In addition, we han- ing police leadership team throughout the dle all emergency communication for po- organization. I would like to thank Mayor lice, fire, and rescue operations throughout Bob Kiss and the Burlington Police Com- the city, and provide additional services mission for their guidance and encourage- such as coordination of the Chittenden Unit ment through the past year. Most for Special Investigations, the Vermont In- importantly, on behalf of the women and ternet Crimes Against Children Task Force, men of the Burlington Police Department, city-wide parking enforcement, and security we thank you, the citizens of Burlington, for operations for the Burlington International your partnership and support as we work Airport. together to make Burlington great. You During this fiscal year, the Department have our commitment to continue our tire- achieved a fully balanced budget during less efforts to ensure that Burlington re- FY08. We were successful in holding mains one of the most vibrant and livable budget growth for the coming year (FY09) cities in the nation. It is truly an honor to to 3% with little impact to core services. serve as Chief of Police. Milestones, new initiatives and projects we undertook during the past year include: Administrative Services Bureau: • Continued work in the area of reducing Deputy Chief Walter Decker violence against women and children; During the last year the Administrative • A conviction in the tragedy of Michelle Services Bureau continued to provide serv- Gardner-Quinn; ice to our community in the respective units • Renewed focus on street level drug inter- of our Department: Communications, De- ventions in our neighborhoods and tectives, Facilities, Parking Enforcement, downtown; Records, and Training & Recruitment. Our • The creation of a central point of opera- Detectives focused largely on neighbor- tions for the Vermont Internet Crimes hood drug interdiction and enforcement,

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Annual Financial Report 2008

while also successfully investigating several to build on our quality of life programs. major crimes. Computer related crime, and Partnering with UVM and Champlain, the proliferation of digital media having evi- proactive student education has created dentiary value in other investigations, con- awareness of the ordinances and of our tinues to expand the roles of our response when necessary. Also involved in investigators. this effort are Code Enforcement, UVM We continued to research and adminis- Police Services, and the Fire Marshal. ter a wide range of training for employees Volunteers in Policing help greatly in obtaining of our Department to include our continued information from complainants following emphasis on cultural competency and bias reports of noise. free policing. Our Department was recog- Using mediation or other dispute resolu- nized as being the only police force in the tion, the Division’s Community Support State with a 100% attendance rate for in- Program fosters communication and re- struction on interacting with persons with solves disputes. The Program encourages disabilities, and we were exemplified for partnerships between the Burlington Police best practices on a recent use of force re- Department and neighborhood residents port generated by the Vermont Attorney and is a model that encourages communi- General’s Office. cation. The Program is a valuable resource The Parking Enforcement and Communi- for officers to de-escalate conflicts before a cations units interact with hundreds of citi- crime is committed. zens each day as a direct “front line” of service to our community. The staff works around the clock to provide service and help resolve problems by directing needed re- sources to our businesses and neighborhoods. Recruiting remains the number one pri- ority for the future of our agency. Our De- partment has been recognized nationally for its innovative application of Community Policing. That accomplishment and contin- ued emphasis is dependent upon having a vital and forward-thinking police force based on community service. We continue to reach out to members of our community to consider a career in this noble and satis- Cpl. Trent Martin and K9 Capone at their fying line of work. VPA Graduation Operations Bureau: Deputy Chief Andi Higbee Recently we have begun to refocus our ef- forts to provide the best services we possi- bly can by identifying what we have termed “consistency in expectations and best prac- tices” in our operational services to the community. To meet the demands and chal- lenges presented with each day, we rely on a highly-qualified and committed staff and management team. In the last year, several promotions have taken place including: Andi Higbee to Deputy Chief; Bruce Bovat to Lieutenant; Shawn Burke and Janine Wright to Sergeant. Cpl. Bonnie Beck at our Turkey Drive for the During the fall and spring we continued Food Shelf

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City of Burlington,Vermont Burlington Police Department continued

The Parks Patrol had a very successful year maintaining services in our parks, the bike path, and on the Marketplace. Eight Parks Patrol employees were charged with educating the public on City Ordinances and park rules in order to maintain a safe, clean and healthy environment for all who visited. The Parks Patrol personnel were highly visible and although not sworn police officers, they were an extra set of “eyes and ears” for us. A host of employees were duly recog- nized during the Annual Recognition Lunch- eon sponsored by the Burlington Rotary Club for either their heroic actions or con- tinuous exemplary performance. A list of the awards presented can be found on our website, listed below. trained as a patrol and drug detection K9 In May 2008, two permanent memorials team. Handled by Corporal Thomas Rad- were unveiled during the Burlington Police ford, Police K9 Stoney retired this year after Department General Roll Call that recog- a highly decorated career with this organi- nized the supreme sacrifice made by fallen zation. The retirement of K9 Stoney paved Officers James W. McGrath, end of watch the way for his replacement, Police K9 May 12, 1904, and J. Albert Fisher, end of Capone. watch December 15, 1947. Both the Mc- For more information about the Burling- Grath and Fisher families were on hand for ton Police Department, we invite you to the dedication. The memorial plaques, visit our website: www.bpdvt.org made of granite, are on display at Head- quarters. Our K9 Unit is responsible for tracking lost or missing people as well as fugitives. Additionally, as a drug detection tool, they support our efforts in drug eradication. FY 2008 was a year of new beginnings for our Police K9 Unit. Corporal Wade Labrecque and Police K9 Andre were selected and

Police Memorial Event, May 15, 2008

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Annual Financial Report 2008 Department of Public Works

ake a drink of water or wash your clothes; ing. The Water Division will be paying off Ttake a walk on a sidewalk; drive to the some capital debt in the near future which store on a public street; put out your recy- may make funds available for these capital clables; park downtown; flush your toilet. improvements without impacting the prop- These are all services provided by your erty tax. Public Works Department, which manages Mayor’s Stormwater Task Force the backbone infrastructure of the city. Not A significant amount of staff time and effort surprisingly, this infrastructure is usually went into serving on the Mayor’s Stormwater taken for granted, which is as it should be. Task Force (comprised of representatives Thanks to the hard work of DPW’s many from DPW, Planning & Zoning, City Attor- employees, these basic systems work all neys office, Conservation Board, and Code day every day. And when there’s a problem, Enforcement), charged with assessing cur- Public Works employees fix it. rent regulations and practices as they per- Water & Wastewater Division tain to stormwater management within the Steven Our Water & Wastewater Division delivers city and with producing solutions to identi- Goodkind potable water to your tap and cleans the fied deficiencies. The Task Force developed Director wastewater prior to discharge into the and proposed a new comprehensive Winooski River and Lake Champlain. These stormwater ordinance for Burlington which services represent almost half of DPW’s was passed by the City Council. total expenditures. The funds come from The new ordinance covers a broad spec- ratepayers and from services provided to trum of issues, including: updated waste- others so there is no burden on the prop- water provisions; municipal administration erty tax. With respect to the Water side, of wastewater permits; and several new operating expenditures rose 8.5% last year. stormwater sections to address areas such Despite the increase, when adjusted for in- as administration, illicit discharges, erosion flation, expenses were actually 6.3% lower control, enforcement and a fee structure to than in FY 2004. In the Wastewater pro- fund infrastructure improvements, storm - gram, operating expenditures declined by water education, and ordinance enforcement. 1.4% last year. When adjusted for inflation, DPW will be responsible for administering these expenses were almost 6.7% lower this important new ordinance that will help than in FY 2005. protect water quality in Lake Champlain. Addressing the Water System’s Capital Needs Right-of-Way: Streets & Sidewalks The Water Division and the Engineering Annual Expenditures Group recently completed a 30 year Capital (Fiscal Year; inflation adjusted) Plan. Key personnel from the treatment plant, distribution system, and Fire Depart- $2,500,000 ment were interviewed to determine defi- ciencies in treatment, storage, and distribu tion systems. Inspections were per- $2,000,000 formed to confirm the findings and a sum- mary of risk assessment and cost estimates was prepared for the water system’s capital $1,500,000 needs. The vast majority of work needs to be done in the water distribution system. The system is comprised of 110 miles of $1,000,000 water mains ranging in size from 2 inches to 24 inches in diameter with the oldest pipe installed around 1872. The Plan provides a timeline and estimates the cost at about $500,000 $30 million over 30 years. With this informa- tion, we can move to planning and budget- 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 I Snow Program

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Streets & Sidewalks (2%) of major road projects, capital improve- Streets & Sidewalks is responsible for main- ments to the Bike path and crosswalks; and taining all road and bridge structures in the traffic calming. The Capital Improvement City’s public right-of-way. This includes salt- Program is funded from the dedicated ing, sanding and snow plowing, street street tax (just over 7 cents per $100 value), sweeping, patching potholes, street resur- plus revenues from excavation fees. And facing, utility cut repairs, guardrails, and beginning in FY07, the City allocated a large portion of the funds from its capital budget for repaving neighborhood streets. The additional funding has allowed sub- stantial increases in paving. However program revenues are not enough to keep up with an aging and dete- riorating infrastructure. Therefore, in 2008 the City initiated and the City Council ap- proved two ballot items to increase the money available for street work (a $5.5 mil- lion bond for immediate needs and a 2.0 cent increase in the dedicated tax going forward). Voters overwhelming supported both questions on the November 2008 ballot. Each year, DPW re-paves an average of about two miles of new pavement. The streets are selected based on the condition of the road and the volume of traffic. Al- storm response. The Division is also respon- though the funding is usually consistent, sible for the repair and replacement of sani- the amount of new pavement varies based tary and storm sewers as well as sidewalk on the extent of reconstruction required and ramp projects funded under the Street and the width of the right of way. On aver- Capital Improvement Program (see below). age, DPW reconstructs almost two miles of There are 96 miles of public streets in sidewalks each year. At the current rate, it Burlington and 150 miles of sidewalks. will take 67 years to replace all 150 miles of Street maintenance is funded by a portion our sidewalks, though the new ones are of the dedicated street tax, excavation fees, only expected to last 50 years. DPW is and the General Fund. Adjusted for infla- hope ful that the recent increase in the dedi- tion, expenditures in FY08 increased after cated tax will help ensure that all the side- declining for the previous two years, and walks are replaced before they exceed their were comparable to expenditures in FY05. normal lifespan. Street and sidewalk maintenance in a Snow Removal densely populated city in the Northeast is DPW’s snow removal fleet includes 17 as much an art as a science. Variables in- plows and trucks of varying sizes and 10 clude weather, the age, and condition of sidewalk tractors. Even with all this, it takes the roads and sidewalks, traffic, parked 5–7 hrs to plow the streets once; 3 hrs to cars, the number of available staff, the salt; 6–8 hrs to plow sidewalks; 14–18 hrs extent of their experience and training, and to snow blow sidewalks; and 8–12 hrs to the quality of the equipment. sand sidewalks. To some extent, year to Capital Improvement Program year variations in the Snow Plowing budget reflect annual weather conditions. In addi- In 2000, Burlington voters approved a four tion to more labor, equipment maintenance cent increase in the dedicated tax for long- costs rise in years with substantial snow. term street paving and sidewalk replace- The program is funded primarily with ment. The tax also pays for the local share

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Annual Financial Report 2008

property taxes. There are 39,000 people in the first time in ten years. The new rates will Burlington and just over 10,000 taxable allow us to continue investing in our facili- properties so the average cost is $19 per ties and infrastructure. person or $73 per property. In response to The Department has also changed all 2 growing expectations by citizens, DPW has hour meters to 3 hour meters to provide increased its snow plowing activities. As a better utilization of the meters. The two result, no city of comparable size in New hour free garage parking program contin- England spends as much effort on sidewalks ues to be successful for transient parkers as Burlington does. and downtown businesses. Street Cleaning Parking & Traffic Revenue vs. Expense DPW’s Street Sweeping operation aims at the accumulated sand, dirt, other debris Fiscal Year 2008 and chemicals on our streets that can end $1,400,000 up in Lake Champlain and pollute the Lake. I Revenue I Expense Street sweeping occurs on each street ap- $1,200,000 proximately three times from June to Sep- tember, plus Spring and Fall cleanups of $1,000,000 heavy debris. The volume of debris col- $800,000 lected is substantial. Each year, Public Works crews removed approximately 1,100 $600,000 yards of debris, estimated at 1,650 tons of $400,000 material. Street cleaning is not only a quality of life issue, but essential to a cleaner envi- $200,000 ronment. $0 Parking & Traffic Divisions Marketplace College St. Lakeview Net Airport Signs, Meters etc. Parking and Traffic is responsible for all – Garages– public parking in the city and at the airport, as well as traffic lights, signs, and crossing guards. Excluding the Waterfront, the Park- Recycling ing division maintains 2,938 parking spaces DPW’s recycling crews make 1,000 to 1,500 downtown, including three garages, on-street stops per day, and the total number of resi- metered parking, and six surface lots (43% dential units served is over 13,000. Collected of all downtown parking). The division is materials are transported to the Solid Waste funded entirely from parking revenues and District’s Material Recovery Facility in Willis- receives no money from property taxes. ton, where they are sorted, baled, and The Traffic Division is responsible for 75 traffic signals and 95 parking ban lights throughout the City. Highlights of FY 2008 Recycling Division – Annual Expenditures include the completion of Flynn Avenue (Fiscal Year; inflation adjusted) and Shelburne Road signal reconstruction including “No Turn on Red” and Pedestrian $750,000 crossing countdown signals. New signals in- $522,513 $456,037 cluding pedestrian crossing countdowns were installed at Ethan Allen Parkway, Ethan $500,000 Allen Park Entrance, and North Avenue. It is the Department’s intent to change all pedestrian signals to countdowns as inter- section upgrades occur. $250,000 Fiscal year 2008 expenses exceeded revenues. To balance the FY 2009 budget, it was necessary to raise parking rates for $0 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

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City of Burlington,Vermont Department of Public Works continued

shipped to appropriate markets. Through Inspection Services the blue box program, Burlington residents DPW inspectors issue permits for new build - recycled 3,100 tons of material last year ings, additions, alterations, repairs, demoli- (almost 480 pounds per household). Includ- tions, sprinkler system changes, fire alarms, ing commercial activity, CSWD estimates fire suppression, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems. The division is funded Parking Rate Increases with revenues from inspection fees (build- ing, plumbing, electrical & HVAC). There Item From To Per are only 3 inspectors and their workload has increased significantly. The number of Parking Garages $5.50 $8.00 Day inspections increased 79% from FY00 to Monthly Leases – 5 day $70.00 $75.00 Month FY05, but has leveled off in the last three years. Notwithstanding increased demand Monthly Leases – 6 day $80.00 $90.00 Month for services, inflation adjusted expenditures for this division are actually lower today 75 Early Bird Coupons $3.00 $4.00 Day than in FY01. All meters except 10 hour $0.75 $1.00 Hour Engineering 10 hour parking meters $2.00 $4.00 Day Engineering provides technical support for major capital projects and Development Review; design and engineering services for that we divert at least 38% of our solid waste Water & Wastewater; performs traffic stud- to recycling. The Recycling program also ies; manages traffic calming projects; staffs conducts the fall leaf pick-up, Christmas tree various City committees; and facilitates collection, and Green Up! Day collection. public participation in various department The cost of the recycling program is and city wide initiatives. Work in the past paid from a Solid Waste Generation Tax year includes management of several major assessed to each residential unit within the ongoing transportation projects (such as the City. This tax is currently $3.10 per month downtown and Waterfront access projects per residential unit and is collected for the and Church Street improvements), the Gosse City by the private trash haulers who pick Court Armory conversion to a community up your solid waste. Businesses are required and recreation center, and implementation to recycle as well but they contract directly of the City’s Capital Improvement Program. with private haulers.

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Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington School Departmet

he Burlington School District (BSD) edu- BSD provides high quality education to T cates about 3600 students in Vermont’s all of its students using nationally recog- largest city. We have nine schools, seven- nized instructional strategies supported by teen school buildings and serve children strong professional development of its from pre-K through twelfth grade. BSD’s teachers. BSD offered comprehensive pro- mission is to engage students with a rigor- grams including K-12 arts, physical educa- ous, well-rounded education by providing tion, health, guidance, English as a Second high-quality teaching in a 21st century Language and music programs; a dozen ad- learning environment. We strive to engage vanced placement courses at the high all students in preparation for higher educa- school; on-line courses at the high school; tion, career and civic life. special education; comprehensive extra- During 2007-08, the BSD continued to and co-curricular activities; and an award work closely with many partner organiza- winning after school program. The District tions and community members to provide employs a full time diversity director to as- excellent and equitable educational oppor- sist faculty and staff in welcoming our di- Jeanné tunities for students. Several years of com- verse student population and ensuring that Collins munity conversations and planning they succeed. Superintendent culminated in 2007-08 in the development Highlights of 2007-2008 of a comprehensive, ten year master strate- Champlain students Bastien Gliech and gic plan, called “Excellence and Equity,” to Eileen Kocherlakota had their original com- guide the District and the City in making positions selected for Opus 16, the Vermont greatly needed improvements to our MIDI Project celebration of exemplary work schools and prepare the schools and our statewide. Go to vtmidi.org/opus to view students for the global economy and work- the selected pieces. place of the 21st century. The full plan and Congratulations to Hunt Middle School’s school-by-school details can be found at Rich Amato, who has been named the Ver- www.bsdplan.com. mont Assistant Principal of the Year. We are The District celebrated many successes grateful to Rich for his dedication and lead- and continues to play a vital role in the ership and proud to see his accomplishments Burlington community during 2007-08. recognized. In coordination with the City of Burling- Lawrence Barnes Elementary School was ton’s Center for Community and Neighbor- profiled in the national publication “Public hoods, we are working towards a more School Insights” for community involve- inclusive community with a campaign called ment and service learning as part of the We All Belong. Burlington is Vermont’s partnership with Shelburne Farms sustain- most diverse community, as is demon- able schools initiative. strated below: BHS Student Tyler Baldor took second

Demographics: Burlington Has Vermont’s Most Diverse Schools Most recent data available is presented. Different dates are noted below. Sources: Burlington Vermont Burlington Schools, Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Agency of Human Services. (2007–08 data) (2006–07 data) Number of students 3,570 95,481 Special Education identified 10.64% 14.30%

Dropout (Vermont data is for 2005–06 and for 9th–12th graders) 3.00% 2.85% English as a Second Language identified 12.91% 1.40% Number of languages spoken by students other than English 47 N/A Qualify for free/reduced meals 40.64% 29% Racial diversity White 74.15% 94.33% Black 11.46% 1.61% Asian 6.44% 1.50% Hispanic or Latino 1.71% 1.03% American Indian or Alaskan 0.28% 0.42% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 0.08% 0.11% Multi-cultural 2.89% 1.00% No race reported 1.60% N/A 61 AR 08:AR 08 Feb/11/09 2:58 PM Page 62

City of Burlington,Vermont Burlington School Department continued

place in Vermont in the UVM writing con- Cost-Effectiveness test. For the past five years, the BSD has had the BHS Social Studies Teacher Fran Brock lowest or second lowest equalized tax and was accepted to the “We the People: the spending rates in Chittenden County. The Citizen and the Constitution” National High spending rate has been the lowest for five School Institute at Boston University to sup- years. The Burlington School District spent port the design of a civics curriculum. about $56 million in 2007-08 to educate its The 53 BHS students and advisor Dan students; of that, about $14.5 million is Hagan participated in the COTS Walk rais- from grants, foundations and sources other ing over $3800 and donating 449 hours of than tax dollars. community service, and Casey Green was Improvements to the School the driving force behind the student-led District’s Buildings and Grounds Bash for Cash, which raised $2000 for Habi- The City Charter allows for the spending of tat for Humanity. $750,000 bond each year for capital proj- BHS Varsity Boys Basketball Team had ects for seventeen school buildings which an undefeated season and won the Division range in age from 40 to 108 years old. In I state championship! 2007-08, BSD was able to replace the fail- Molly Rugg and Emma Smithayer were ing roof and insulation at Hunt Middle National Merit Scholarship finalists. School, complete two more walls of win- Amaris Williams received the commu- dows at the Edmunds complex, and replace nity-wide United Way “Hometown Hero the front steps. The wood chip boiler at the Youth Award” for “her infectious love of high school, completed during 2006-07, reading” with children at the King Street saved BSD $70,000 in heating costs during Youth Center. 2007-08. Burlington’s SAT and ACT scores for For more information about the Burling- 2008 exceeded Vermont’s and the nation’s ton School District, visit our website at in SAT critical reading and writing and all www.bsdvt.org or call 802-865-5332. subject areas of the ACT. More Burlington students took these exams used for college entrance than a year ago. Superintendent Collins was elected to serve a three-year term on the Governing Board of the American Association of School Administrators. She will help to set the policy agenda for the association.

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Annual Financial Report 2008 Burlington Telecom

urlington Telecom (BT), a department of telephone and internet services. Businesses Bthe City of Burlington, continues to concentrate on high-speed internet, dedi- build a Fiber to the Home network bringing cated fiber, gigabit link and sophisticated fiber optic connections to the residents and business-oriented voice telephone services. businesses of Burlington. The network cur- In 2009, BT’s road map includes WiFi serv- rently: ice, expanded local video content, local ad- • Provides High Speed Symmetrical Inter- vertising and the sale and support of net Bandwidth; customer network devices including • Is a state of the art cable TV service using routers. BT will also focus on several green IPTV technology and offers over 180 initiatives, including electronic meter read- standard definition channels, more than ing and promoting “working from home” 50 High Definition channels, Video On- as an alternative to commuting. Demand, and Digital Video Recorder To keep informed, visit our website: service; and www.burlingtontelecom.com or use the link • Provides traditional phone service and on the City’s website, www.ci.burlington.vt.us. Christopher Enterprise VoIP service. Burns Acting General By the end of calendar year 2008, ap- Manager proximately 4300 customers were hooked up to BT’s all-fiber network with an average of 50-70 new installations per week. Most residential customers choose to receive the “triple play” of integrated digital Cable TV,

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