City MeetingMontpelier

The Bridge’s Portable Guide to

Voters to See Crowded Presidential BallotBy Tom Brown

Montpelier’s Town Meeting Day ballot may be thin on contested races but the Democratic presidential primary dance card is full.

Democratic voters will have 13 names to choose from on Super Tuesday, ranging from favorite son Bernie Sanders to Mark Stewart (aka Mark Stewart Greenfield), an obscure candidate from Connecticut.

In addition to party front runners such as Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg, the ballot includes primary dropouts Julian Castro, Andrew Yang, and Marianne Williamson. The Republican ballot lists former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld and perennial candidate Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente in addition to President Donald Trump. Voters will receive both ballots but can only vote in one of the primaries.

Sanders is the overwhelming favorite to win his home state again but given the tight results of the recent New Hampshire primary it will be interesting to see if he can match the 86 percent he garnered in the 2016 Vermont contest, where it was a two-person race between Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The sheer number of Democrats on the ballot is likely to erode some of Sanders’ margin this time.

Locally, Montpelier City Councilor Conor Casey, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party and an active Warren supporter, said Sanders would be wise to take nothing for granted.

“I’d say a good goal for Warren in Vermont is the 15 percent threshold,” Casey said. “I think Bernie has done a great job but I think Elizabeth is more viable in forming a coalition to bring in Biden voters and others.”

Another curiosity to watch will be how many Vermonters choose a Republican ballot and how well Weld performs against the incumbent president.

Otherwise, only two municipal races will feature competition: a two-year District 3 City Council seat and a five-year spot on the Cemetery Commission.

In the District 3 contest, Jay Ericson, Gene

Leon, and Bruce Sargent are vying for the spot left by Councilor Glen Coburn Hutcheson, who decided not to seek reelection. The Bridge will have more on that race in the next issue. Andrew Penniman and Linda Berger are competing for the cemetery post.

There are uncontested races for City Council in District 1, where incumbent Dona Bate seeks reelection, and in District 2, where Conor Casey is running for a second term. Daniel Richardson is the only candidate in a special election to complete the remaining year of the term vacated by Councilor Ashley Hill, who resigned in December. Richardson was appointed to temporarily fill Hill’s seat in January.

The city’s mayoral race is likewise devoid of challengers as incumbent Anne Watson seeks a second term.

“It certainly makes it easier for me but I’m still going to be out there campaigning and knocking on doors and talking with folks,”

Watson said. “It’s a nice commentary that people think I’m doing a really good job and people feel respected and heard.”

Four seats are up for grabs on the Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools board but only four candidates filed to appear on the ballot: Incumbent Board Chair Jim Murphy is seeking reelection to a three-year seat, and Aniket Kulkarni and Jill Remick are also running for three-year seats. Mara Iverson, who was appointed to replace Rebecca Bowen, is seeking election to the remaining year of that term.

Roxbury Town Clerk Tammy Legacy is seeking the post of School District Clerk and no candidate applied to fill the post of School Moderator, which will be chosen by write-ins.

Bate is also running for a spot on the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority panel.

Democratic Presidential Primary

Bernie Sanders. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.

Voters to See Crowded Presidential Ballot

SAMPLE

Democratic Presidential Primary

Ericson Emphasizes Communication

J ay Ericson learned a lot about soil re-mediation, stormwater runoff, and nest-building as a lead volunteer on the

reconstruction of the playground at Union Elementary School, but the most important lesson, he said, was community engagement.

One of three candidates for a vacant Dis-trict 3 City Council seat on Town Meeting Day, Ericson said he would bring an element of communication to all of the city’s actions.

“Community engagement in all of these decisions builds community,” he said. “Even though you may not hear from more people, they have a stronger sense of what is hap-pening and people feel a stronger sense of ownership.”

He said his work on the nearly $2 million, five-year playground effort gave him experi-ence in working with city officials, contrac-tors, school officials, and neighbors of the school whose lives were disrupted by street closures and other effects of the project.

“In the playground process I was really engaged with the city,” he said. “And in the construction process we had to really disrupt the neighborhood, so I worked closely with police and fire to make sure that it was safe for the kids and didn’t have too much impact on the neighbors. We put a strong focus on community engagement and communica-tion.”

Ericson, 48, said he supports the city di-rection in developing the downtown core, including the proposed parking garage and hotel project, but would also like to see eco-nomic growth in the outlying areas of the city. He also cited the garage project as an example of how the city might communicate better.

“I think we have a great opportunity to look beyond the downtown core,” he said. “If we can look further away (from downtown) we can create a stronger sense of community and build better connectivity from neighbor-hoods to downtown.”

He said economic development has to go hand-in-hand with maintaining affordability

and that potential projects must be weighed with an eye toward who will pay and who will benefit.

He cited the needed renovation of the Barre Street Recreation Center as an example. It needs a substantial investment in order to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Council will soon need to decide how much to spend and what amenities to include. Ericson said that whatever decision is made must be sustainable and take into account the resources of existing city staff to make sure the facility is fully utilized.

“If we are going to make the investment we need to be sure that the community we want to serve gets the benefit of it,” he said.

Ericson is a strong supporter of the city’s net-zero energy goal and of making its wa-

terfront more accessible, saying such devel-opment adds value and increases the city’s “livability.”

“There has never been a case where a town or city, large or small, in the country that has engaged the waterfront or open spaces down-town has seen that not be a benefit,” he said.

Ericson is the owner of Ericson Photogra-phy and lives with his wife, Richarda, and three children on Liberty Street. He has a masters in environmental studies from the University of Montana and was a past board chair for the Helen Day Arts Center in Stowe. Richarda Ericson is development and outreach director for The Vermont River Conservancy, which has worked on city con-servation projects.

By Tom Brown

District 3 City Council Seat

Jay Ericson. Courtesy photo.

Taxes and Speed Drive LeonBy Tom Brown

Speed and spending top the list of priorities for District 3 City Council candidate Gene Leon.

The Berlin Street resident last year rallied dozens of supporters in an unsuccessful bid to have the speed limit lowered to 25 mph on the backway thoroughfare that leads from the city to Hospital Hill and the Berlin Mall. Leon pressed the city to put the proposal on the Council agenda and made sure residents were on hand at two public hearings to defend the idea.

The Councilors eventually voted to lower the 35 mph limit to 30, as recommended by former Department of Public Works director Tom McArdle, but the effort inspired Leon to seek the seat being vacated by Glen Coburn Hutcheson. If elected, Leon promised to push for a 25 mph speed limit on all but the most traveled city streets.

“I think the Council is too quick to vote sometimes,” he said. “If I’m critical it’s be-cause I care, but they seemed to ignore all the residents who came and went with the city recommendation.”

Leon, 45, also believes property taxes are too high and the city should be more delib-erate in its spending, especially in areas of the budget that he feels benefit a minority of taxpayers. He cited the Montpelier Devel-opment Corp. ($100,000), the Homelessness Task Force ($45,000), investments in the arts, money to fight the emerald ash borer, and various committees as funding that could be better scrutinized.

“You can’t just approve money,” he said. “We’re not a charity. We need to get the best bang for the buck and be cautious of where the spending is and how it impacts our taxes. People are just fed up with that.”

He said he supports economic development on both sides of the Winooski River and ex-panding the tax base, but worries that increas-ing taxes are causing residents to leave the city.

He said development plans should include areas outside the city center, such as the for-mer Grossman’s location, private space along

Northfield Street, and perhaps modernizing retail and business properties along River Street.

Leon also said he would like to see more neighborhood parks and pointed to the nine-acre Stonewall Meadows plot of city-owned land off Hebert Street in District 3 as an example of a public space that could be devel-oped into a more formal park.

Leon said he is undecided about the pro-posed Recreation Center renovation, ques-tioning the cost but supportive of the energy efficiency potential and the potential to use the building as an emergency shelter.

“Do we really want another $5 million bond,” he asked? “Can we do it for less money using local contractors?”

Leon said he is also concerned about empty

storefronts, and suggested that if a location was empty for three months or six months that perhaps the city should impose a vacancy tax, designed to force landlords to cut rents.

If elected, he promised to meet regularly with constituents and represent their views, something he says wasn’t done in the speed limit debate.

“You have to put your own opinions aside and listen to the people,” he said. “You repre-sent the 2,000 people in the district.”

Leon, whose father fled the Castro regime in Cuba, is an artist whose previous jobs include video production, carpentry, and ski tuning, among others. He grew up in Florida and has two children. He has a public event planned from 7 to 9 pm Feb. 19 at Rab-ble-Rouser.

District 3 City Council Seat

Gene Leon. Courtesy photo.

Sargent Questions EthicsBy Tom Brown

A long-running property dispute with the city and a neighbor is just one of the reasons Bruce Sargent

entered the race for District 3 City Coun-cilor.

He said the dispute led him to believe an ethics policy is needed for city employees and Councilors to cover such areas as brib-ery, and that there should be a city ethics officer to hear complaints. He pointed to a guidebook called “Fighting Small Town Corruption,” published by the Columbia Law School, as a model for such a policy.

He did not identify any specific ethics violations or name any city officials he sus-pects of behaving unethically in his case. The city has a three-page ethics policy that focuses on conflicts of interest and recusal, and bribery is already a criminal offense.

“I want an ethics policy that makes that kind of behavior dangerous to do,” he said.

The property dispute surrounds the road classification of Scribner Street, where Sar-gent lives with his partner Maggie Neale, and involves road classification and a right of way with a neighboring property. A de-termination by the Council last year did not satisfy Sargent and Neale.

“In brief, my partner got scammed by a resurvey of the property,” he said.

Sargent, a retired teacher at the Phoenix School in Salem, Massachusetts, and other schools, said he would like to bring young people into the city’s decision-making pro-cess.

“I would invite kids from seventh-grade to voting age to be on an advisory com-mittee, so to speak, to have an opportunity to hear the debate, and if they agree, fine, and if they don’t I want the adults to know that,” he said.

He also said he would like to see an online forum where constituents could in-form him in real-time how they wanted him to vote on a specific issue, a sort of instant referendum.

“The goal is to bring the idea of what it is

to be a city councilor to the radical extreme of possibility,” he said.

He also said city property is too expen-sive and is driving people away.

“We’re limiting the population to those who can afford it,” he said. “Things are changing and progressing but some people are getting left behind in that progression.”

Sargent said he agrees with some of the city’s efforts to improve pedestrian and bike access, which he described as sus-tainable infrastructure. He cited European countries such as the Netherlands as exam-ples of smart transportation.

“Walking was a healthy part of life 100 years ago,” he said. “People didn’t need to go to the gym. It’s good for the health of the environment and the health of the people.”

Sargent said that if elected he would meet regularly with his constituents and involve as many people as possible in the governmental process.

“I want to work on building an environ-ment and culture of integrity, the way I always imagined Vermont was and should be,” he said.

District 3 City Council Seat

Bruce Sargent. Courtesy photo.

Map to the FutureBy Dona Bate

Dona Bate is running uncontested for District 1 City Council and for a seat on the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority Board.

I love maps, they help me enjoy commu-nities, parks, public art, historical sites, and museums wherever I travel. Organ-

izational charts and systems are like maps, they reveal the relationship and connection of people and activities. It’s these types of connections that inspire and motivate me to serve on City Council where city staff, com-mittees, boards, commissions, and residents come together to share vision and resources. In working together to keep our community vibrant and responsive, and to make it more inclusive, we need to seek opportunities to learn and change. I look forward to future community workshops that increase aware-ness and understanding of biases within ourselves and our institutions.

I’ll continue to work toward more cus-tomer-oriented transit services, more diver-sified housing, and more parks throughout the city. To provide resources, like a clinical social worker, to support our police, fire, and public works in their commitment to fair and impartial treatment for all resi-dents and visitors. I support new initiatives: the micro-transit pilot project, assistance to those who are homeless, and improvements to pedestrian and cyclist safety.

The significance of connections and sus-tainability came together when we exam-ined the expensive infrastructure needs, like the wastewater treatment plan. Instead of just replacing equipment, the Council de-cided to fully upgrade and turn wastewater into energy we can use and sell. This pro-vides new revenues, makes operations safer, reduces pollution, and advances the net zero goal. Similarly, early action to reduce the impact of the emerald ash borer and plant replacement trees now saves money and reduces stormwater. As does creating a plan to mitigate the impact of climate change on our lives and to financial and human re-sources from damages from floods, broken

water mains, and potholes.Commonality binds us together and dif-

ferences enhance and expand our resources as a city and as a region. This is why I have worked on regional public safety services since 2006. Public safety should not have town boundaries. The nearest fire, ambu-lance, or police should be available to all Central Vermont residents. The CVPSA has developed several business models for centralized dispatching, which is the first step toward a more coordinated, effective use of first responders and their equipment, and critical faster response time.

How old is your cell phone or computer? Many components of our region’s public safety telecommunication system are over 25 years old, have been patched several

times, and have many blank spots. The Tel-ecommunication Needs Assessment will in-ventory and identify problems in 23 towns and design a modern, more dependable telecommunication system (radio, phones, towers, fiber, and cellular). I agree with Michael Schirling, the new Vermont Public Safety Commissioner, we must modernize public safety telecommunications and have regionalized dispatch centers.

I’m grateful for the years I’ve served as District 1 Councilor and CVPSA Board Director and seek your support to continue making connections that improve safety, services, and sustainability.

Uncontested City Council Seats

Dona Bate. Courtesy photo.

Bold IdeasBy Conor Casey

Conor Casey is running uncon-tested for District 2 City Council.

I t has been an honor to rep-resent you for the past two years as a District 2 Coun-

cilor. I’m eager to serve a second

term and give back to the city that has given so much to me over 15 years. In a time when national politics have become so volatile, it has been a pleasure to work with such engaged res-idents, dedicated public employ-ees, and passionate volunteers to make our community a better place.

The Council has worked hard during my first term to pass responsible budgets that re-flect Montpelier’s values. We’ve invested in affordable housing, capital improvements, and add-ing much-needed staff. As coun-cilor, I’ve advocated for the pas-

sage of a single-use plastics ban and giving non-U.S. citizens vot-ing rights in local elections. I’ve also sponsored an ordinance to set a prevailing wage and safety standards for construction work-ers, making Montpelier the first in the state to do so. I’m excited to continue some of the pro-jects I’m working on, such as establishing a door-to-door mi-cro-transit program and creating recreational opportunities along our riverfront.

If re-elected, I’ll continue being a city councilor who knocks on doors, holds forums, and testi-fies at the Legislature to get the job done. I’m not running for City Council simply to fill a seat—our city can adopt bold, new ideas and set an example for other municipalities across the state. Thank you for your support!

Uncontested City Council Seats

Why I Am RunningBy Daniel Richardson

Daniel Richardson is running uncontested for District 3 City Council.

M ontpelier is a dynamic city with a long his-tory and a great deal

of untapped potential.We are unique in that we are a

small city that, like a pufferfish, swells each day with an influx of state and private-sector employ-ees who come to work, shop, eat, and play. We are a capital, which makes us the locus of protests, rallies, and national events. We need services that can be at once intimate and yet large enough to handle the needs of our day-time population.

As City Councilor, I look for-ward to continuing my service to the city. For the past 15 years, I have worked in a variety of positions, including the Design Review Committee, the Devel-

opment Review Board, and as a Cemetery Commissioner. During that time, I have had the privi-lege of working with hundreds of Montpelier citizens looking to develop or improve their property. I have worked with city staff in cooperative relationships. In each position, I have sought to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Through listening to my fellow citizens and partners, I have come to have a deep appreciation for the various points of view that inform our city. We are lucky to have so many passionate people who uni-formly care deeply about this city and its future.

I look forward to hearing from residents in District 3 and ad-dressing their concerns. As an at-torney by training, I see my role as a problem solver. Montpelier is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

Conor Casey. Courtesy photo. Daniel Richardson. Courtesy photo.

By Anne Watson

Editor’s note: Anne Watson is running un-contested for Mayor.

It’s been my honor to serve the City of Montpelier for the past two years as Mayor, during which time we have

accomplished some great things. We fin-ished the transit center. We extended the shared-use path. We divested our in-vestment portfolios from fossil fuels. We protected construction workers’ pay and benefits when they work on city projects. We pushed the Legislature to ban plastic bags. I say “we” in all of these statements, because it really did take a team of people working together.

I look forward to the next two years. We have more interesting possibilities to explore and work on. My guiding prin-ciple is financial, economic, and social sustainability. With that in mind, I’m looking forward to continuing to pursue our net-zero energy goal and re-examin-ing our emergency preparedness plans, so that we can be ready for different types of crises. We’ll have conversations about our water system and how to prevent water main breaks. We’ll be looking at home en-ergy information in the city and coming up with some plans as to how we can best encourage energy improvements.

Additionally, I would like to re-estab-lish the Capital Area Neighborhoods as a means to communicate about city issues more readily with constituents and build community resilience if there is a crisis. As we get to know our neighbors, we may find ourselves exposed to new ideas or ways of thinking. That diversity and dialogue will make us stronger, and strong neighborhoods make strong cities.

Uncontested City Council Seats

We Have More to Do

Anne Watson.Courtesy photo.

Tax Bills Could Rise by Five PercentBy Bridge Staff Writers

The presidential primaries will likely be the hot draw this year, but Montpelier residents who vote early or at City Hall

on March 3 will also be asked to weigh in on 15 Montpelier articles, including city and school budgets totaling $35 million.

If the two budgets and all other items on the City Meeting ballot are approved, residen-tial property tax bills will increase by about 5 percent in the 2021 fiscal year (FY21), which begins July 1. The increase may be lower for homeowners who qualify for state property tax credits that are based on income.

The proposed FY21 city budget of $9,933,719 represents a 4.9-percent increase over the current budget. That’s higher than the annual CPI inflation rate, which is running at about 2.5 percent, or the Social Security 2020 cost-of-living increase of 1.6 percent, but the city this year was facing sharp 25-percent increases in health and workers compensation insurance. This made it difficult for the City Council to reach its philosophical goal of keeping the budget increase to no more than 4 percent.

Other items affecting the city budget in-clude an increase of 1.65 full-time-equiva-lent (FTE) employees to 118.65 total FTEs; a 2-percent increase for the fire department union employees and nonunion employees (police and public works contracts have yet to be negotiated); $45,000 granted to the home-lessness task force; and $23,500 for the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority.

If the city budget and all other related arti-cles pass—the largest of which is a request for $350,471 for the Kellogg-Hubbard Library—the municipal tax rate will increase by 5.3 cents, a 4.7-percent increase.

On the school side, voters are being asked to approve a Montpelier-Roxbury school budget of $25,054,900 and a $270,000 supplement to the schools’ capital reserve fund. Together, these represent a 5.2-percent increase in spend-ing.

Among other things, the budget includes the addition of a full-time seventh- and eighth-

grade teacher, a full-time behavior position at Main Street Middle School, three coaches, and a half-time pre-K position at Union Elemen-tary School.

If passed, the school budget and reserve fund increases will push the Montpelier resi-dential school tax rate up to $1.725, a 4.9-per-cent increase. The Roxbury residential tax rate would be $1.610, a 5.5-percent decrease.

One reason for the difference in the two tax rates—and Roxbury’s tax rate decrease—is the Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) in the two towns. The CLA figures—calculated by the state—are a way to account for the dif-ferent levels of appraisal among towns and are used by make the statewide school property tax more equitable. More than 5 cents of the 8-cent Montpelier tax rate increase is a result of the CLA adjustment.

According to the state, the average prop-erty in Montpelier was appraised in 2019 at 86.86 percent of fair market value, down from 89.67 percent in 2018, which indicates property values are rising. By contrast, Rox-

bury’s CLA rose from 97.11 percent to 97.64 percent, which means property values there are dropping slightly, in theory. Without the CLA adjustment, the proposed FY21 Montpelier residential school rate would be 2.6 cents lower than in FY18, (before the Montpelier-Roxbury merger), in part due to state incentives for mergers. The school district still has two more years to go with an annual two-cent reduction in the statewide rate that comes as a merger incentive, according to the school district.

Tax-wise, the merger has worked out bet-ter for Roxbury residents—10 times better. Leaving the CLA aside, the proposed FY21 residential tax rate will be 26.2 cents lower than in FY18.

If all budget items pass, the resulting com-bined Montpelier residential property tax bill increase of 5 percent would mean taxes on the average $228,000 residential property in the city would rise $316. (See table for more comparisons).

Homeowners in Vermont are eligible for state property credits that reduce property tax bills, usually based on income. Homeown-ers with household incomes up to $90,000 can pay their school tax based on a percent-age of income, with the benefits phasing out for households with incomes of $90,000 to $136,000. The income-based rates will not be finalized until the Legislature passes a state budget. Homeowners with household incomes of $47,000 and below may also qualify for a reduction in the municipal portion of their tax bills. This tax credit—sometimes called the “circuit breaker”—caps municipal bills at various percentages of income established by statute.

In tax year 2019, the majority of Montpelier homeowners received tax credits, according to the state Property Valuation and Review 2019 annual report. Sixty-nine percent of Montpel-ier homeowners received an average of $1,443 in education tax credits, while 19 percent re-ceived a municipal tax credit averaging $1,095.

Montpelier City and School Budget

Proposed Property Tax Increases

The table above shows the Montpelier residential property tax bill increases which will occur if the municipal and school budgets pass and all other budget items are approved, including petitioned requests. The increase in the total tax bill from the current tax year would be 5%. Most Montpelier homeowners receive state property tax credits that reduce their property tax bills; the figures above reflect the proposed increases for those who do not receive any of these credits.