Financial Article Seeks to Preserve Town Credit Rating
Several housekeeping articles and a few meant to protect the town are on January's Town Meeting agenda.
The six financial articles for Burlington's January Town Meeting are aimed at keeping Burlington running efficiently and preserving the town's credit rating by reducing the borrowing required to complete several high-dollar projects.
Many of the financial articles are housekeeping ones that are on the agenda every January. For example, Article 12 seeks to transfer money into a fund that will pay for the work to complete Burlington's connection to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the service provided by this connection. Article 13 funds a reserve fund that the town can use in case of a financial emergency without calling a special town meeting; this fund in the past has been used to repair power service to the Town Common, for example. Article 14 allows the town to direct local receipts from ride share services initiating in Burlington toward offsetting the cost of the town's subsidized ride share program.
Articles 11 and 15 are not regularly on the Warrant. Eleven would authorize the town to enter into a contract with a cybersecurity consultant for five years. This is before Town Meeting because they have to authorize contracts with terms greater than three years The town says a longer contract is necessary "to maintain and upgrade its critical infrastructure efficiently." Fifteen will fund the tax abatement defense fund, which allows the town to respond to challenges to property tax assessments.
And, finally, Article 16 would transfer nearly $15 million in free cash to pay for all or part of several projects that are already approved by Town Meeting. The Overlook Park project, which will cost $2.3 million overall, would receive $1.3 million of these funds; the rest of the project will be paid for by a grant from the Land & Water Conservation Fund. $3.5 million would go to paving projects. And the Fox Hill and Police Station Building Projects would receive $5 million each. This move is aimed at reducing the total borrowing necessary to complete these projects, thereby protecting the town's credit rating.
There are also general bylaw articles and general articles on the Warrant for January 27; stay tuned to the Buzz for summaries of these articles and more.
Burlington's January 2025 Town Meeting begins on Monday, January 27, at 7:00 in the BHS auditorium. Official Town documentation includes the Warrant, the Warrant Backup, zoning detail, and the town and school budgets as a reference.
