Burlington, Vt., is trying to improve its bond rating with a November election question...
Burlington, Vt., is trying to improve its bond rating with a November election question that has become wrapped in municipal telecom controversy. Conservative political action committee Vermonters First sent out a mailer the weekend of Nov. 3 attacking the election…
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ballot’s Question 1, at stake Tuesday. This ballot item seeks authorization to refinance the city’s funds, a measure local officials have deemed necessary after Burlington’s past spending, a credit downgrade this summer and the misfortunes of municipally funded Burlington Telecom. The ballot question asks if the city should be allowed to issue general obligation bonds “not to exceed nine million dollars,” according to the sample ballot. Burlington would use this refinanced bond money for the city’s working capital, costs and expenses, it said -- “excluding Burlington Telecom,” it specified. But “the bond does not address the underlying threats to our fiscal stability: the $50 million debt of Burlington Telecom and the underfunded city pension,” the Vermonters First mailer said, asking residents to vote no (http://xrl.us/bnx5f3). Mayor Miro Weinberger strongly advocates a yes vote on Question 1. The bonds will “help restore Burlington’s near-junk bond status credit rating, and, over time, will save millions of dollars of unnecessary interest spending,” he said Friday in a statement (http://xrl.us/bnx5hn). The bonds won’t be a Burlington Telecom “bailout,” and the city will “aggressively pursue repayment of the $17 million” the city lent to fund the network, he said in a statement on his site (http://xrl.us/bnx5i8). The city council voted in support of the bond question 13-1, he added. The mayor blasted the mailer on Twitter as “inaccurate” (http://bit.ly/Xeg6WR) and held a press conference Saturday widely reported in local media outlets to say so. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, meanwhile, praised Burlington Telecom in a Monday blog post for its recent announcement that it'll launch one-gigabit speeds for $150 a month starting Dec. 1 (http://xrl.us/bnx5gh).