Board of Finance

Board of Finance Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://zoom.us/j/94879129061 Phone one-tap: +13052241968, 94879129061# US Join via audio: +1 305 224 1968 US Webinar ID: 948 7912 9061 International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/amCf2zHVR **CCTV link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2PwCge7lNoKug676jIf_iUA ** 1. Agenda Subject 1.1. Motion to adopt agenda Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 1. Agenda Department Council and Board Type Action Procedural Recommended Action Motion to adopt agenda 2. Public Forum Subject 2.1. Verbal Comments Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 2. Public Forum Department Council and Board Page 1 of 26  Type Action Procedural Recommended Action open Public Forum close Public Forum 3. Consent Agenda Subject 3.1. Motion to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions indicated Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 3. Consent Agenda Department Council and Board Type Action (Consent) Procedural Recommended Action Motion to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions indicated Subject 3.2. January 12, 2026 Board of Finance Meeting Minutes - DFA Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 3. Consent Agenda Department Department of Finance and Administration Type Action (Consent) Information Minutes Recommended Action approve the minutes 4. Deliberative Agenda Subject 4.1. Authorization to Execute Contract with Interface Studio for planBTV: 2050 - Planning Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 4. Deliberative Agenda Department Planning Type Action Recommended Action 1. approve and recommend that the City Council approve the expenditure of up to $340,000.00 ($325,755.00 + 4.2% contingency) from the sources identified above; and 2. authorize, and recommend that the City Council authorize, the Planning Director to execute the contract with Interface Studio for planBTV: 2050, subject to the review and approval of the City Attorney Page 2 of 26  Subject 4.2. March 3, 2026 Annual City Meeting - Increase In Police & Fire Tax Rate - Mayor Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 4. Deliberative Agenda Department Mayor's Office Type Resolution Discussion Information 5. Reclassifications - HR Subject 5.1. Reclassifications - HR Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 5. Reclassifications - HR Department Human Resources Type Discussion Information 6. Adjournment Subject 6.1. Motion to adjourn Meeting January 20, 2026 - Board of Finance Meeting - Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 5:00 PM, Bushor Conference Room, 149 Church Street, 1st Floor Category 6. Adjournment Department Council and Board Type Action Procedural Recommended Action Motion to adjourn Page 3 of 26 Page 4 of 26 Page 5 of 26 Page 6 of 26 Page 7 of 26 Page 8 of 26 Page 9 of 26 Page 10 of 26  City of Burlington, VT 149 Church Street, 3rd Floor Burlington, VT 05401 Phone: (802) 865-7144 www.burlingtonvt.gov/plan TO: Board of Finance FROM: Charles Dillard, AICP, Director, Office of City Planning Katherine Schad, CAO Kara Alnasrawi, Director, CEDO Phil Lewis, Director, BPRW DATE: January 20, 2026 RE: Authorization to Execute Contract with Interface Studio for planBTV: 2050 Summary The Office of City Planning and the Clerk Treasurer seek approval of $340,000.00 ($325,755.00 + 4.2% contingency) for a contract with Interface Studio, a city planning and urban design firm, to conduct and lead a subconsultant team in the creation of planBTV: 2050, a new unified plan that combines a new Municipal Plan with a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and a new System Plan for Burlington Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront. The fourth planBTV: 2050 element is a Citywide Transportation Plan, the contract for which will be held by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC). The City is combining these planning efforts to craft a holistic long-term vision that reflects the way Burlingtonians experience the interconnected city in their daily lives. By undertaking an integrated process, the boundaries of each department and ‘area of care’ will overlap rather than abut. Ultimately, PlanBTV 2050 will provide a unified framework to create a more livable, affordable, sustainable, inclusive and accessible city for all residents. This process will result in four standalone elements that will serve as implementation roadmaps for the respective departments. The Municipal Plan – currently planBTV, is required to be updated every eight years. Burlington’s current planBTV was adopted on March 25, 2019. As such, the Municipal Plan portion of this contract must be completed in due time to allow for its adoption no later than March 25, 2027. Scope of Work The proposal from Interface Studio includes a six-phase process: • Phase 1: Laying the Groundwork will establish a foundation for the planning process. It includes a Project Kick-Off meeting with representatives from the City and consultant teams to discuss project goals, existing values frameworks, roles, and responsibilities. A team-wide exploratory visit to Burlington will introduce the consultant team to Burlington’s diverse cityscape and communities, including residents, employees, business owners and stakeholders. Phase 1 will conclude with the finalization of work plan revisions, a community engagement plan and data and graphics standards. • Phase 2: Assessment consists of a comprehensive assessment of existing conditions relative to the Plan’s four constitutive elements. The Interface team will document on-the-ground conditions and identify trends and gaps in current City policies and practices. This phase will also include a review of existing plans, capital projects and other major city initiatives, population and growth projections, and a review of potential budget impacts of current land use and policy practices. • Phase 3: Vision and Engagement will concentrate the bulk of the processes’ community engagement. While engagement will be critical to each of the other phases, Phase 3 will include the widest range of public visioning activities and will be designed to engage with Burlington’s diverse communities in the most effective, culturally and socially appropriate ways. This phase also includes a statistically valid survey and focused collaboration with the City’s Trusted Community Voices. • Phase 4: Scenario Planning will allow City staff and Burlington residents to engage with multiple growth scenarios and understand the trade-offs inherent to and resulting from each. The City of Burlington will not tolerate unlawful harassment or discrimination on the basis of political or religious affiliation, race, color, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, HIV positive status, crime victim status or genetic information. The City is also committed to providing proper access to services, facilities, and employment opportunities. For accessibility information or alternative formats, please contact the City Planning department or 711 if you are hearing or speech impaired. Page 11 of 26  This process will identify a preferred scenario that allocates and encourages 7,000 new homes by 2050 and the evolutions of Burlington’s transportation systems, park infrastructure and programming, economic development and climate resiliency necessary to facilitate that growth in a manner consistent with the community’s values. • Phase 5: Plan Development will draw upon the previous phases and consist of four sets of draft strategies, one for each element. The strategies will be reviewed and confirmed via a public engagement roadshow. Following this final review period, the Interface team will develop a coordinated implementation plan that will guide decision-making and budgeting and that will specify sequencing, responsible parties, and funding sources for each strategy. • Phase 6: Final Plan Production will result in a cohesive set of four planning elements that will be designed to reach and be compelling to diverse audiences. The final planBTV: 2050 will meet the State’s Municipal Plan requirements, as well as those of the City Council resolutions. This project will be directed by the Office of City Planning, with project management leadership from CEDO, BPRW and DPW. A project charter outlining roles, responsibilities and standard operating procedures has been agreed to by the four core Department Directors, the Mayor’s Office, and the Directors of DFA and REIB. Procurement The Interface Studio team was selected after a competitive Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process conducted between September and November, 2025. The City received six submittals, each consisting of multi-firm teams. The City conducted interviews with four firms and the project leadership team, consisting of the Project Director and each of the four planning element leads, determined that the Interface Studio team best addressed the multi-disciplinary needs of this planning process. Interface Studio will oversee the effort and serve as the primary consultant for the Municipal Plan and BPRW elements. The sub-consultant team and their roles are as follows: • Buro Happold is an international consulting firm that will lead the scenario planning work and support components of each element. • Ninigret Partners is an economic consulting firm and will lead the Economic Development element. • Toole Design, one of North America’s leading planning, urban design, and engineering firm specializing in multimodal transportation planning and design will lead the Mobility Element. The City’s contract does not allocate funds to Toole, though contingency funds are available should they be needed for mobility-related work. • Smart Mobility is a consultancy specializing in transportation modeling and planning that will support the Mobility element. The City’s contract does not allocate funds to Smart Mobility, though contingency funds are available should they be needed for mobility-related work. Project Funding The total cost of planBTV: 2050 is $640,000.00. The work will be delivered under two separate contracts: • The City will hold a $340,000.00 contract with Interface Studio as the prime consultant conducting and overseeing the Municipal Plan, Economic Development, and Parks, Recreation and Waterfront elements. Included in this amount is a $14,245 contingency (4.2 percent). • CCRPC will hold a $300,000.00 contract with Interface Studio as the prime consultant conducting and overseeing the Mobility element, which includes the citywide transportation plan and strategies to improve mobility access to BPRW facilities and programming. The CCRPC contract includes a $31,000 contingency (10.3 percent). Page 12 of 26 The City’s contract is funded as follows: • Municipal Plan Element ($115,000): o A $30,000 State of Vermont Municipal Planning Grant (MPG), which is matched by $6,400 in Office of City Planning professional and consultant services funds, for a total of $36,400.00 o A $75,000 professional and consultant services budget in the FY27 budget for the Office of City Planning. o A $4,000 balance in professional and consultant services funds in the FY26 Office of City Planning budget • The BPRW Element is funded via $150,000 in BPRW funds from the following sources: o $55,000 in Penny for Parks funds, determined by the portion of the scope that has a nexus to and will support BPRW capital projects o $95,000 in general fund professional and consultant services funds • The Economic Development Element ($75,000): o A $30,000 State of Vermont Municipal Planning Grant (MPG), which is matched by $3,400 in CEDO professional and consultant services funds, for a total of $33,400. o $41,600 in Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) funds, which are in professional and consultant services lines in the FY26 and FY27 budgets for CEDO. Requested Motion 1. Approve and recommend that the City Council approve the expenditure of up to $340,000.00 ($325,755.00 + 4.2% contingency) from the sources identified above; and 2. Authorize, and recommend that the City Council authorize, the Planning Director to execute the contract with Interface Studio for planBTV: 2050, subject to the review and approval of the City Attorney. Page 13 of 26  Board of Finance and City Council Submission Checklist Version: April 2025 Department: Office of City Planning Submitter: Charles Dillard Title/Subject: planBTV: 2050 Consultant Contract Authorization Approval Requested: Meeting Date: ☐ Board of Finance 1/12/2026 ☐ City Council 1/12/2026 ☒ Both BOF and Council 1/20/2026 Instructions 1. This form must be completed by the person submitting the materials. 2. This form must be sent with the final submission of materials in advance of the meeting. 3. Do not indicate that a sign-off was received until it has actually been obtained. 4. Commission reports and presentations do not need to be reviewed by the CAO or Attorneys. 5. Name the reviewing Attorney or HR Manager in the Note column. Signoff Needed Received? Approval Date Note Department Head Yes 1/5/2026 Charles Dillard Mayor’s Office Choose an 1/7/2026 Erin Jacobsen item. Board/Commission Choose an Click or tap to Click or tap here to enter text. item. enter a date. City Attorney’s Office for memo and Choose an 1/7/2026 Erik Ramakrishnan contracts or legal documents item. City Attorney’s Office for memo and Choose an Click or tap to Click or tap here to enter text. motion(s) or resolution(s) item. enter a date. CAO for budget, financing, and memo Yes 1/7/2026 Katherine Schad Human Resources, if personnel action Choose an Click or tap to Click or tap here to enter text. or policy item. enter a date. CIO, if IT-related Choose an Click or tap to Click or tap here to enter text. item. enter a date. Page 14 of 26 Page 15 of 26  FY27 General Fund Budget Discussion of $.05 Police & Fire Tax Increase January 20, 2026 1 Page 16 of 26  FY27 Budget A gap of $10-12M in City budget of $107M is approximately 10% and will require a balanced, multi-pronged approach: • Raise Revenue • Rightsize Government • Realize Strategic Opportunities 2 Page 17 of 26  Raise Revenue: Police & Fire Property Tax • $.05 increase to police & fire tax would raise $3M toward projected gap • Current police & fire tax projected to raise $6.4M this year • In contrast the budgets for those departments are $39.1M • Police & fire tax only raises 16% of costs for the services 3 Page 18 of 26  Municipal Property Tax History Note $353K is current median assessed value for home or condo in Burlington Total Total Fiscal Past Muni Muni $ Muni Tax Year Tax Rate Tax on Increase on $500K $ Increase % Increase $353K Property Property FY22 $.6704 $2,367 $3,352 FY23 $.7085 $2,501 $134 $3,542 $190 5.7% FY24 $.7523 $2,655 $154 $3,762 $220 6.2% FY25 $.8326 $2,939 $284 $4,163 $401 10.7% FY26 $.8556 $3,020 $81 $4,278 $115 2.8% 4 Page 19 of 26  Municipal Property Tax Proposed Total Total Muni Total Muni Proposed Proposed Tax on Annual Tax on Annual $ % Tax Muni Tax $353K $ Increase $500K Increase Increase Increase Rate* Property Property Required + $.05 $.0807 $.9363 $3,305 $285 $4,682 $404 9.4% for Police & Fire Required Only – $.0307 $.8863 $3,129 $109 $4,432 $154 3.6% Debt & Retirement 5 Page 20 of 26  Illustrative Early Balanced Solution Category Solution Amount Notes Raise Revenue Increase Police & Fire Property Tax $.05 $ 3M Once approved by CC on 1/26 to be placed on Town Meeting Day ballot. Raise Revenue Utilize One-Time Revenues $ 2M Exploring use of dedicated tax balances from many years previous in appropriate, budget-relieving ways. Raise Revenue Enhance Collections $ 1M Examples include parking tickets, ambulance fees and building permits. Refine amount. Rightsize Reduce Government Expenses 5-10% $ 3M Department Heads made Government recommendations for further discussion. Rightsize Create Voluntary Furlough Program $ 0.2M HR moving forward to create voluntary Government program. Realize Strategic Sale of City Property $ 1M Properties are vacant or used for parking. Opportunities Would create one-time money and add to property tax revenue on ongoing basis. Numbers are preliminary and this is just an initial look at one way we could choose to structure the solution. Total $ 10.2M 6 Page 21 of 26  Next Steps • Police & fire tax requires affirmative vote by City Council by Jan 26 to place it on ballot then requires voter approval on Town Meeting Day • Further engagement with city unions, city employees, and city councilors will take place in February and March on other solutions ahead of Mayor's budget presentations in April • Every department’s budget will be presented in detail in April (Budget Nights) - one month early than recent practice – to allow more time for Council and public deliberations ahead of June final vote 7 Page 22 of 26  Reclassification Request Form Personnel Information Questionnaire The purpose of this form is to solicit information which will be used to determine whether a position is appropriately classified due to a significant change in the duties, responsibilities on a permanent basis and/or qualification requirements that are not part of the current job duties as a result of changes in workload demands, expansion of responsibilities, reorganization, or efficiencies, etc. Human Resources will review this reclassification request form and determine if a reclassification review is warranted. Per policy, a review may result in a higher, lower, or the same grade. This process follows the procedures outlined in the AFSCME Collective Bargaining Agreement and Personnel Policy Manual is intended to ensure positions are properly classified in accordance with job content, not individual performance. Instructions: complete the following sections and attached any necessary documents A complete reclassification request must include the following: Submitter Required Items • Completed and signed form Employee • Supporting documentation (optional, e.g., examples of changed duties) • Completed and signed form Manager • Updated position description (using Track Changes in Word) • Supporting rationale or organizational chart (if applicable) Submission: All materials should be sent to Human Resources, who will review the request to determine whether a reclassification study is warranted under the AFSCME CBA or Personnel Policy Manual. Section 1: Current Position Information and Responsibilities 1. Current Employee Name or Vacant:____________________________________________ 2. Department and Division:____________________________________________________ 3. Manager’s Name:___________________________________________________________ 4. Current Grade and Title:_____________________________________________________ 5. How many employees hold this role:_________________________ 6. If associated with a union, which one? _________________________________________ Page 23 of 26 Section 2: Current Job Descriptions List in order of importance, three or four of the major current functions or responsibilities of your job. A couple of descriptive words or a short sentence is enough. Estimate the approximate percent of your time spent on each of the duties you perform. Keep in mind that some jobs operate in annual cycles, so you might wish to calculate your percentages from an annual basis (e.g., 10% of your work per year is allocated to the preparation of the annual budget projections or snow plowing, plant maintenance, while 20% is in budget generation and 10% in audit functions, etc.). If your job has a daily routine which does not change significantly, calculate the percentage on a daily basis (e.g., 25% of you day involves maintenance or administrative work, 10% filing, cleaning the shop etc.). Percent Frequency the task is perform Responsibility or Function (in order of of Time (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) importance) Section 3: Changes to Duties and Responsibilities Outline the new or changed duties that may warrant a review of the position’s classification. Include factors such as increased complexity, new technical or supervisory responsibilities, or specialized knowledge. In addition, identify duties and/or responsibilities that have been eliminated or reassigned. Percent Frequency the task is Responsibility or Function (in order Are these duties new or of Time perform of importance) reassigned from another (daily, weekly, position(s)* monthly, quarterly, yearly) *If you answered “yes”, duties have been reassigned from another position, please identify that position title here. Page 24 of 26 Has the current employee performed the above duties and responsibilities as assigned by their manager for at least six months? Yes No Will the above duties and responsibilities stay with the position indefinitely (i.e., even if the current employee leaves the position?) Yes No Describe why it is necessary to assign this work to this position (i.e., indicate why other positions cannot perform the work): Section 4: Service and/or Fiscal Impact If these tasks are not performed (or are eliminated), what would be the impact on service delivery or operations? Section 5: Additional information to be considered. Please provide any other relevant details to support this request: Page 25 of 26 Section 6: Review and Approval Signatures __________________________________________________________________ Employee Name, Signature and Date (An incomplete form will be returned to the individual before Human Resources can review it __________________________________________________________________ Manager Name, Signature and Date Section 7: HR Use Only (To be completed by HR after initial review) Review Step Date Reviewer Notes Request Received Initial Review Complete Classification Study Required Yes No Reclassification Determination Effective Date (if applicable) Page 26 of 26