Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak announced today that the city will reduce its workforce by 25 positions, which will result in 18 workers being laid off. While the budget gap at $8 million for the new fiscal year is far smaller than the $14.2 million gap for FY25, the ability to balance the budget is far more difficult this time. She noted that city taxes increased in FY23 by 6%, FY24 by 6%, and FY25 by 11%.
The City has grown unsustainably between FY15 and FY24, adding 98 FTE positions funded by general operating dollars for a total of just over 500 General Fund FTEs today. This growth includes about 37 positions which were created with one-time funding sources (federal or state grant or pandemic relief funding) and had no long-term sustainable funding mechanism identified. She said the city charter is outdated and does not allow property taxes to support expenses in a fair and predictable way for residents and government.
See text of email to city workers below.
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak Statement on City of Burlington Reduction in Force: “From the earliest days of my tenure as Mayor I have been clear that our City is facing structural budget challenges. Last year, we were able to identify the right combination of solutions to close the 14.2 million dollar gap, without having to resort to layoffs.
“In preparing for FY26, we are facing an 8 million dollar gap with fewer solutions available to balance the budget. This budget process has resulted in some of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as Mayor, including the elimination of 25 positions across multiple General Fund departments. The City has notified employees in impacted positions. Of the 25 positions, 7 are currently vacant.
“As Mayor, I take seriously my obligation to be a good steward of City resources. I also take seriously our commitments to all City employees, and to the residents of Burlington. While we will continue to face difficult budget decisions in the years ahead, I am committed to pursuing policy change and budgeting practices that sustainably fund City operations while also addressing affordability.”
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak and CAO Katherine Schad will provide broader updates related to the FY26 budget at a press conference on Monday, May 12 at 10:00 AM.
Text of Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak's Email to All City Employees
May 8, 2025
Dear City Team:
Let me begin by acknowledging that today has been a very difficult day. I also recognize the uncertainty and anxiety that many have felt in recent weeks. I want to thank you for your patience as the administration has worked diligently on the FY26 budget. The budget gap for FY26 started at $8M. It is smaller than the $14.2 million we confronted last year, but the solutions to balance the budget are much fewer this year.
Throughout this budget process, the administration has carefully assessed a number of potential reductions to help close the gap. As Mayor, I take seriously our obligation to City employees and want to assure you that this budget proposes no major changes to health insurance benefits, the paid family leave program, retirement, or COLA increases for non-union employees, and we are not asking unions to reopen contracts for FY26 to change already bargained salary and benefits.
I also take seriously our obligation to residents who are concerned about affordability and their ability to continue to call Burlington home after years of steady tax increases - City taxes increased in FY23 by 6%, FY24 by 6%, and FY25 by 11%. The City has grown unsustainably between FY15 and FY24, adding 98 FTE positions funded by general operating dollars for a total of just over 500 General Fund FTEs today. This growth includes about 37 positions which were created with one-time funding sources (federal or state grant or pandemic relief funding) and had no long-term sustainable funding mechanism identified. The City’s municipal budget continually has a structural budget gap because our city charter is outdated and does not allow property taxes to support City expenses in a fair and predictable way for residents and City government. Seven Days published an article this week which offers a useful plain language summary of some of our tax structure challenges.
We began work on the FY26 budget two months earlier than in past years to estimate if a general tax rate increase was required. At that time, we determined that we needed to prioritize critical infrastructure bonds first and work on right-sizing the general fund budget, without asking voters for a general tax rate increase on Town Meeting Day. This is part of an affordability commitment to residents and enabling our City to advance its housing, community safety, and climate priorities.
Last fall, we launched the ModernGov Initiative, which aims to improve the delivery of core City services, and ensure your roles are sustainable and balanced. And, late last year, the City began early practices of equity-based budgeting by designing a first-ever service and program inventory for all general fund departments. This exercise asked every department to itemize city programs and services and for each of those, to identify what is required by charter or
ordinance, usage patterns by parts of our community, and financial cost. The Mayor’s Office then worked with CT to review the completed inventory while asking three questions:
- Is this program/service a core function of our municipal government?
- Does this program/service advance our priorities of community safety, housing, or climate sustainability?
- Does this program/service fill a gap in community programming or services for underserved community members?
We then used this analysis to identify programs, services, and positions that could be eliminated while maintaining our core obligations to residents, businesses, and visitors. This was an incredibly challenging process and resulted in some of the hardest decisions I have had to make as Mayor.
Tonight, I am sharing that for FY26, the administration has made the difficult decision to eliminate 25 positions across multiple General Fund departments. This number represents 12 AFSCME and 13 non-union positions and includes 7 currently vacant positions. Employees in these impacted positions received notification today. Impacted departments also met with remaining staff today to share this news directly with colleagues of impacted employees. I understand that this may be upsetting news to receive, and that you will likely have questions about what this will mean going forward. We will work with department heads and union leadership to continue sharing more information in the days and weeks ahead. This will include clarity on programs and services we are ending in the new fiscal year and how we are carefully reassigning limited work that must continue to other employees.
What comes next?
On Monday, I will be joined by CAO Schad to provide updates regarding the FY26 budget at a morning press conference, followed by a full presentation to the City Council that evening. This presentation will include high level updates on program and service reductions and also strategic investments, especially related to our housing strategy, to continue advancing our City’s priorities. We will present more detailed department budgets to the Board of Finance each Wednesday this month, and I encourage employees to watch those presentations to learn more. Leahy BTV and Burlington Electric Department already presented their budgets last night, which you can watch on the recording.
I want to thank each of you for the work you do everyday in service to our community. I remain committed to strengthening our budgeting practices around the principles of equity, transparency, sustainability, and good governance. This includes moving us towards multiyear budgeting where we can plan across fiscal years and better prepare for needed tax increases and changes in our services with more notice. This also includes introducing new tax policy that introduces fairer ways to collect local taxes based on ability to pay, something currently not allowed under our city charter. This has been the hardest moment in my tenure as Mayor, yet I know the City is on a path towards more sustainable budget practices.
With gratitude,
Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak
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