Approved Burlington FY27 Budget

Hi everyone,

This is Laura Sánchez-Parkinson, your City Councilor for Ward 3, representing the Old North End and Downtown. In case you haven’t heard, Burlington’s city budget of $112.6 million has been approved!

First, I want to thank Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Chief Administrative Officer Katherine Schad, department leaders and staff, and my fellow city councilors for the months of work that went into this budget. It took many conversations, hard decisions, and a lot of collaboration to arrive at a budget with bipartisan support.

I believe that how we allocate our resources reflects our values. I supported this budget because it invests in city workers, maintains critical city services, and continues to support some of our most vulnerable residents, including dedicated investments this year for our senior community.

Throughout this process, we also had important conversations about how Burlington can strengthen economic development and move toward greater economic justice. There are real differences in how people believe we should get there, and I continue to sit with an important question: how can our city keep working toward economic justice while also facing a budget gap?

That is not an easy place to be. Addressing systemic disinvestment requires us to invest in the people and communities that our city has historically, and still today, not fully served. That work must remain central to how we think about our budget, our priorities, and our future.

This budget process also raised important questions about how we continue to invest in and reimagine community safety, including our police and fire departments. In March, we as voters approved the Police and Fire Tax increase with more than 70% support, allowing the city to invest in critical department infrastructure. During this budget process, I also advocated for expanded funding for law enforcement training, including training focused on better implementing our fair and impartial policing and immigration-related policies. As the hiring process for Burlington’s new Police Chief continues, this budget will be an important foundation for the work ahead.

Most of all, I want to thank our city workers. I see you!! Thank you for your commitment and work.

This year’s budget is approved. As you make sense of it or as things come up for you throughout the year that could inform our future budgets, don’t hesitate to reach out!

You can review the signed budget resolution here:

https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/8638/files/attachment/16584

You can also read a memo from the Mayor’s Office with a budget overview:

https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/8638/files/attachment/16557

Laura Sánchez-Parkinson

Email: lsanchezparkinson@burlingtonvt.gov

IG @lauraforburlington