City of Montpelier, Vermont

Montpelier 2007 / Annual Report / .
Message from the Mayor:
Dear Friends,
I
write this on the eve of the final
hearing on the city’s annual
budget, the culmination of
some of the most important work
the citizens of Montpelier ask the
Mayor and City Council to do.
This budget supports the top quality
municipal services we expect
and includes splitting the cost of
the school resources officer with the schools and supporting
the library at last year’s funding level. It returns our funding
of capital projects to the $1 million level. It does not fully
support our equipment fund. It does not include an additional
police officer and the budget eliminates a ¾ position in our
Fire Department and a full time position in Public Works. The
budget reduces a full time position in Finance to part time. It
provides for the reorganization of the work flow in our Public
Works Department.
We have seen a slight growth in our grand list. Payments
from the state in lieu of taxes increased slightly, thanks to the
work of a coalition of the 110 towns receiving these payments.
Overall this budget increases by 2.1% over the current year’s
budget and will result in a 1.7 cent increase in the tax rate. I
believe it is a very responsible budget. For years Montpelier
property taxes have been among the highest in the state. We are
now 16th in the state and have tax rates comparable to communities
of similar size and services.
We learned this winter that the state plans to repave parts of
Route 2/302 next year and we accelerated plans for upgrading
water and sewer lines in the road to avoid tearing up what
would have been just paved. In addition the screw pumps at the
Wastewater Treatment Plant need to be replaced. You will see
two articles on the ballot relating to this work.
For several years now the Council has been working on ways
to protect people and buildings from fire. Three years ago it
adopted an ordinance requiring sprinkler systems be installed
in most buildings being constructed in the city. The Council
wanted to provide support to residential and commercial property
owners in installing these systems and proposes to ask the
legislature for the authority, through a charter change, to offer
financial incentives for the installation of sprinkler systems.
You will see an article asking the voters if we should ask the
legislature for this authority.
This year the city took over the inspection of public buildings
from the State of Vermont. Apartment building owners have
complimented the inspector on the quality of inspection. We
know that inspections will be more timely and follow through
will be improved. People and property will be safer.
The City Council spent much of the summer of 2006 working
on proposed changes to the City’s zoning and subdivision
ordinances. The Council’s goals for the ordinance were to
encourage the creation of more housing, provide for retention
of open space and to make the ordinance easier to use. The
final zoning ordinance does much to support the development
of housing in the city—it makes it easier to build “in-fill”
housing, to create apartments in existing housing stock, and
increases housing density in some zones. These steps, taken in
conjunction with other opportunities we have created, should
result in more homes in the city. The Council could not agree
on a mechanism for changing the way open space is managed.
The Council made some changes which provide for more
administrative approval of some projects. The volunteers on
the City’s Planning Commission have provided great service
to the community, we are fortunate to have such a team and I
look forward to working with them on their plans for creating
community consensus on the future of the city and future zoning
changes.
The Council has focused on housing for several years. This
work resulted in new homes on Barre Street, the first net gain
in housing in the City in many years. The 36 new apartments
have been recognized for their remarkable energy efficiency.
Many of the residents have found they use their cars less, others
are doing without cars all together. The 18 condominiums
are slated for completion this spring and will only add to the
liveliness and vigor of this traditional neighborhood.
The Montpelier Energy Team formed two years ago to discuss
rising energy costs, growing climate change threats, and actions
continues to make a difference. This group connected with
local energy and regional experts and has worked on possible
conservation and efficiency initiatives. An intern from Vermont
Law School gathered data on how the city and its residents
consume energy. At the team’s urging, the City joined Cities
for Climate Protection, a world wide group of over 650 cities
acting to reduce energy consumption. The Council supported
developing a Montpelier Energy and Climate Plan to reduce our
green house gas emissions and cut energy expenses. I attended
a national gathering of city officials sharing municipal energy
solutions.
The schools have made significant investments in the
energy efficiency of their buildings with great results—not
only will they save fuel and money, but the buildings are more
comfortable. The city has built on past steps (our vehicle fleet
is smaller--both in number and size--and more efficient, we use
methane gas generated by the wastewater treatment plant to
help heat the plant, windows on City Hall and the Fire Station
have been retrofitted to reduce heat loss) and is now working to
change street lighting. A Montpelier Energy City Meeting will
be held on Monday, March 5, 2007. Organized by Montpelier
Energy Team, we look forward to a great gathering designed to
provide information about reducing energy use, saving money
and taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Please
come to the National Life Cafeteria on March 5 to learn more
about ways to make Montpelier as energy self-sufficient as
possible and to do our part to address global warming. Whether
our motivation for action is our pocket books, the environment
or the well-being of our neighbors, it is time for us to lead.
Three years ago the people of Montpelier passed a resolution
calling for peace and nuclear disarmament. Montpellier, France
adopted the same resolution this past year and I was invited to