Burlington’s city council has given its unanimous nod to a new municipal budget that calls for $90.5 million in outlays from the city’s general fund, a 2 percent merit-based raise for city staff members, fee increases for water, sewer, and sanitation – and no increase in the city’s property tax rate.
The council voted 5-to-0 on Tuesday to adopt this new spending plan, which maintains Burlington’s property tax rate at 48.36 cents for every $100 of property value. According to Peggy Reece, the city’s finance director, this budget is a no-frills proposition for the city as it enters the financial cycle that formally begins on July 1.
“This budget is back to basics,” she said during a city council meeting on Tuesday, “and covering what expenses we have to cover like new debt service.”
The new budget calls for a grant total for $90.5 million in outlays from the city’s general fund – a repository for various taxes and fees that bankrolls most municipal programs and services. Reece observed that about 70 percent of these expenditures go to the city’s payroll, including a proposed merit-based pay raise that averages out to an extra 2 percent over Burlington’s fulltime workforce…