Winooski residents would see 8 percent tax hike with proposed new budget

The Winooski roundabout. Photo by Catherine Morrissey

The Winooski City Council approved a trimmed-down proposed budget for the next fiscal year to temper the property tax increase for residents to about eight percent. 

After the initial budget proposal projected a 12.7 percent increase in taxes, some Winooski homeowners expressed concerns about the financial strain. “I feel like I’m being taxed out of my house,” Robert Lloyd told council members during their budget meeting on Jan. 22. 

He said he bought his Winooski home in 2020 and paid about $1,100 in annual property taxes that year. Over the subsequent four years, his annual tax bill has risen more than six-fold to about $7,100, he said. 

His wife has suffered from the long-term effects of an injury for about eight years, he added, cutting into their shared income by about 30 percent. As they approach retirement, Lloyd said, he’d like to fix up and pay off the mortgage on his home, but higher taxes will make that more difficult. 

The council approved a nearly $11 million budget that Winooski voters will consider on Town Meeting Day on March 5. City and school district officials will host a budget presentation and community dinner at 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at the O’Brien Community Center for residents to hear details of the updated plan. Another budget presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 4 at the Winooski School District Performing Arts Center. 

“I don’t want to include anything that isn’t critical for the next year, and I want the opportunity at our annual strategic prioritization to kind of reset on what we think is critical core service and what we can afford as a community,” Mayor Kristine Lott said. 

Among the cuts that City Manager Elaine Wang presented to the council at its Jan. 22 meeting, she said she would forgo her own proposed salary increase of $7,391 and maintain her annual pay at $132,146.  

“It seemed to be an important gesture to make given, for example, what [Lloyd] was saying,” Wang told the council. 

Lott expressed some skepticism about that move. 

“I don’t love having you flatten your wages fully,” Lott said. “I appreciate the effort. As with all employees, we want people to be fairly compensated.”  

The updated budget also removed a proposed increase in funding for the city’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives and leaves the position of equity director vacant for another year. 

Winooski has not had an equity director since the first person in that position, Yasamin Gordon, left the job in June 2022 after facing “microaggressions” and “structural racism,” Wang said in interviews with Winooski News last year about Gordon’s departure. 

The $21,750 proposed in the new budget for cross-departmental equity work maintains the amount set aside for the current fiscal year. Wang said she expects to fully fund a new equity director position in the future, though she declined to provide a time frame. 

“This does not mean we are stepping down from our commitment to equity,” Wang said.  

The proposed budget for the next year also includes an increase in capital spending to cover street and sidewalk work, including repaving and curb ramp replacement for federal Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, on Pine Grove Terrace, Dufresne Drive and Cedar Street. The cost nearly doubled from last year’s budget range of $100,000-$140,000 to $255,753 in the upcoming year. 

In past years, the city reduced those infrastructure costs by using funds left over after covering other necessary expenses, Jon Rauscher, Winooski’s public works director, told the council. Streets and sidewalks are considered “a more scalable expense,” because of the extent of work needed in many areas, Wang said. Depending on the areas prioritized for immediate action, this could either increase or decrease the amount of funds needed. For next year, Winooski has offset some of the proposed increases with savings from staff turnover and revenue from short-term rental fees. 

At the Jan. 22 meeting, the city council also approved a $4.6 million bond resolution for voters to consider on Town Meeting Day to fund replacement and improvement of the Burlington-Winooski Bridge. If residents approve it, the bond issue would raise the estimated amount for Winooski’s portion of the project over 20 years. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027. 

Judith Lance, a Winooski resident for more than 35 years, raised questions about the city’s financial burden for the bridge project, noting that some people living outside Burlington and Winooski use the bridge frequently and should contribute to the cost. “Businesses in Winooski benefit if that bridge is in good condition,” said Lance, who is now retired. “But it seems like there are a lot of other communities that are benefitting every bit as much as Winooski is by having that bridge.” 

The most recent public meeting on the bridge project was held Jan. 23, and the next information session is not yet scheduled.