by Burlington Mayor, Emma Mulvaney-Stanak
Wednesday night, the City Council unanimously approved Burlington’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget. This budget reflects my commitment to affordability. There is no question that this was another challenging budget year as we faced another gap, this one being $9.8M. When we closed the $14.2M gap last year, we knew that difficult decisions were ahead due to chronic structural budgetary gaps that have been building for decades. Indeed, this year, we had to make the difficult decision to cut 25 positions and end/reduce several programs. We needed to make these decisions, but that did not make them any easier. I want to talk a little bit about how we got here, what we are doing about it, and where we go next.
The $9.8M gap we faced this year was a culmination of the end of one-time funds, rising healthcare and operational costs, and a structural gap that has been growing for years. For context, between 2015-2024, the City added 98 positions with 37 of them funded by one-time dollars. Add on inflation, limited spending flexibility with our 14 splinter taxes, and minimal growth in our grand list, our City has grown in unsustainable ways.
I am proud to have taken meaningful steps in this budget to move us forward towards stability and affordability for Burlington residents. We were able to close this year’s gap without a dramatic increase to taxes or fees. Since the education tax is going down thanks to the hard work of the Burlington School District and School Board, most homeowners will see a decrease in their property tax this year. If residents have income-sensitized tax bills for state property taxes, they will likely see an even further decrease. In fact, the FY26 Budget is actually 1% smaller than our FY25 budget – an uncommon trend in municipal budgeting, but a necessary one to move the City in a more affordable direction. See below for how our FY26 budget compares to the last four years.
By focusing on long term solutions rather than quick fixes and using smart planning tools like ModernGov Initiative and the budget service inventory, we are streamlining departments and right-sizing our government. Most challenging of all, we had to eliminate 25 positions, 7 of which were vacant, to help close this year’s budget gap and start to reduce the size of the chronic gap year after year. I’d like to share an important update that several of the people who were laid off have found other positions within City government. These decisions were not taken lightly, and were informed by our service inventory, studies, and reports. We identified which City services are essential to residents and how we can deliver them effectively while keeping affordability in mind.
Below are highlights from the FY26 budget, including how we strategically invested more resources into the City’s priority areas of housing and community safety, while also paring back program and services we had to discontinue.
Priorities for the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget
- Affordability – We have maintained a commitment to affordability for Burlington taxpayers.
- Sustainability – Moving the City away from the use of one-time funds and focusing on sustainable, long term solutions.
- Right-sizing – We have worked to right-size our City government by identifying core services and focusing on the needs of our community now.
This budget reflects the immediate needs of our City:
- Improving community safety;
- Maintaining core City services; and
- Continuing to do the work of right-sizing our City government which has grown unsustainably.
FY26 Budget Highlights
Fire Department: This budget leverages opioid dollars for the BFD response to the opioid crisis including the evolution of our Community Response Team pilot program into a community paramedicine program.
Overdose Prevention Center: We are maintaining funding for our OPC Implementation Specialist and implementing State policy to support Burlington opening an Overdose Prevention Center and working with the Vermont Department of Health for funding and stewardship of key piece of our public health and community safety strategy.
Housing: We are creating a new position starting later in the fiscal year within CEDO to lead the creation of an innovative strategy for housing production of all types within the City.
Community Safety System: It is year two of our community safety system strategic work and this budget funds the last year of the Senior Advisor on Community Safety role, advances the Situation Table pilot with state grant funding, launches the City Circle initiative, and we are finalizing our community safety response system to create a more effective system across the City.
Howard Center: We have significantly increased our financial support of the Howard Center Street Outreach team for the first time in years to help them do the address acute mental health issues in our downtown.
Burlington Police Department: Funding for 8 additional sworn officers can be found in this budget for a total headcount of 71 sworn and 50 professional staff at the BPD.
Utilities: This budget also has resources for our municipal electric and water utilities to expand ratepayer affordability programs for residents across the City.
Program and Service Reductions: This budget includes centralizing financial and grant services across the city into one department, winding down the Early Learning Initiative as state policy can now replace this program, reducing BCA art gallery adult education programing, and shifting away from our operation of the ONE Community Center while maintaining a more focused adult and senior recreation program.
What Comes Next?
Our budget challenges are not behind us, and I will need to continue to make difficult decisions, informed by feedback from the community about our collective needs and priorities, to ensure the sustainability of the City. My administration will continue our work to strengthen our budgeting practices, centering affordability, sustainability, and equity for FY27 and beyond.
Planning for next year’s budget and beyond will include:
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Examining both the Operational Efficiency Study, the User Fee Study and other past studies commissioned by the City to determine what more we can do to modernize our City government and so we can ensure that our fees align with costs.
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Working towards collecting outstanding fees owed to the City and effectively enforcing our housing code through the Department of Permitting and Inspections.
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Creating a transparent process that allows community organizations equitable access to limited City resources and right-sizing the amount of funds the City can provide to our community partners.
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Working with our City staff to continue to find outside funding sources, including grants, but avoiding funding core City services with one-time funding.
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Taking a closer look at our health insurance plans and exploring other cost-effective options that continue to provide high quality healthcare to our city employees.
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Beginning to create multi-year budget planning models so my administration and future city leaders can plan for the City and it’s needs, including when and how we need to raise revenue through tax and/or municipal utility rate increases, and coordination of bonding and debt service payments.
For more details on the budget, see here for my FY26 Budget Memo submitted to City Council and here for the FY26 Budget Resolution.