Town Meeting Day in Winooski: Ongoing projects aligned with city’s vision

On Tuesday, Winooski voters have just a few key decisions to make at the ballot box: approving the proposed 2021 budget and filling two seats on the City Council. 

The proposed fiscal year 2020-21 budget is $7,627,149, representing a 2.45% increase from the current budget of just over $7.3 million. That’s less of a jump from last year when voters saw an increase of nearly 5.7%. 

City officials say the police department accounts for the largest budget category -- 34% -- while 17% will go toward general administration, 16% to public works, 13% for capital projects, and 7% for community services. 

For a home valued at $225,000, the projected tax bill under the new budget would be $2.603.57, an increase of $62.19 dollars from this year, officials said. 

Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott and Town Manager Jessie Baker have done several public presentations to outline the proposed 2021 budget and what voters could expect on Town Meeting Day. 

The proposed budget was the result of a lengthy drafting process, Baker said, but it calls for no new spending to fund new projects. Instead, it implements four previously approved projects and upholds Winooski’s strategic vision, she continued. 

Making progress with ongoing projects

Baker explained how the Winooksi community has done a lot of planning and has made significant investments in recent years. “We've taken some big bond votes and we've defined a vision for ourselves as a community. This budget moves those projects forward while focusing on affordability for our community,” Baker said.

Lott and Baker emphasized that the proposed budget maintains the current level of services while moving forward with four large capital projects previously approved by the community: Myers Memorial Pool Reconstruction, Main Street revitalization, water and street improvements on Hickock Street, and new downtown parking infrastructure. 

Over half of this year’s budget increase -- 1.55% -- will be for pool operations, including “paying for lifeguards, staff, and facility operations and maintenance,” Baker said. The pool will open in June, as scheduled. The total cost of the project has been $3.8 million, with about 90% supplied by city bonds. 

Voters in 2018 approved plans for the Main Street revitalization with a $23 million bond vote. The project has been in the engineering and design phase over the past year and that will continue through much of this year with construction planned to begin in spring 2021. City officials have secured $5 million in low-interest loans and $5 million in grants to support the project, taking some of the financial burden off taxpayers, officials said. 

On Hickock Street, underground work has been completed with street-level construction planned for this fall. Like the pool project, this work also is also on time and on budget, officials said.

Still on the drawing board are plans to develop the Abenaki Garage to provide new downtown parking infrastructure to Winooski, along with 30,000 square feet of office space and a new hotel. This project will not impact the 2021 tax rate as it is still in the early planning process. 

Baker pointed to a planning process that the city undertook in 2015 that involved approximately 550 community members “who participated in talking about what made Winooski special, what they wanted to see for the future of our city, the values we hold dear as a community.” 

The result was a “strategic vision” that is guiding new development. “All of these projects are aligned to the city's strategic vision of being an open, welcoming, affordable community for all of our residents and allowing opportunities for folks to connect and live in healthy infrastructure,” Baker said. 

Progress on these projects is tracked on the city government website, winooskivt.gov under Current Initiatives and via the monthly Winooski Newsletter. 

Champlain Water District item

Also on the March 3 ballot is an item from the Champlain Water District. Winooski is one of eight member communities in the district along with Colchester, Essex, Jericho, Milton, Shelburne, South Burlington, and Williston.

The article for the district is a request to bond for up to $3.5 million for public drinking water system improvements, specifically the construction of a pump station and transmission line in Essex and the construction of a transmission line in Colchester. 

The projects are timed so that this new debt would begin as earlier debts are paid off, resulting in no rate increases for customers, according to water district voter information. 

If the bond passes, the Colchester work will be done this year and the Essex work in 2021. 

More details are available online at champlainwater.org. 

Town Meeting Day election details 

For City Council elections, incumbents Hal Colston and Michael Meyers are unopposed for reelection to two-year terms each. Colston also serves as deputy mayor and as a state representative for Winooski in the Vermont House. 

“Mike Meyers was elected last Town Meeting Day for a one-year term and is running for reelection for a two-year term,” Baker said. “And Hal Colston was elected Town Meeting Day 2018 for a two-year term and is now running again for a two-year term.” 

She noted that the lack of contestants is a contrast to high turnover on the council in recent years. She offered a theory that perhaps “it is more a testament to looking for some political stability on the council.”

On Monday, city officials hold an informational public meeting to discuss ballot items that voters will decide at the polls on Tuesday, March 3, Vermont Town Meeting Day. 

The informational meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at the Winooski Education Center. It will be followed by a similar presentation starting at 7:30 p.m. regarding the school items on the Tuesday ballot.

On Tuesday, voting will be held at the Winooski Senior Center, 123 Barlow St., from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Those wishing to vote early may do so at the city clerk’s office on Monday.  

New this year are special ballots to help residents for whom English may not be their first language. “In partnership with the Secretary of State's office, we have all of our ballots translated into our six major languages this year,” Baker said. “Arabic, Burmese, French, Nepali, Somali, and Swahili. So if folks are coming out to vote and prefer to look at the ballot in their native languages, we will have those available at the polling place as well.”