Burlington Lays Off 18 City Workers to Help Close Budget Gap

Eighteen Burlington city workers are being laid off as part of Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s plan to narrow an $8 million gap in next fiscal year’s budget, her office announced on Friday.

Seven other vacant positions will be cut, for a total of 25 reductions across multiple city departments, a city press release said.

About half of the positions cut are union jobs, all belonging to AFSCME, the city’s largest union, which represents more than 300 city staff. Joe Magee, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, said most of the layoffs are effective immediately.

The city has offered few other details about the cuts, including what positions or departments were affected. Magee said Mulvaney-Stanak would not be available to answer questions until a press conference scheduled for Monday morning. City councilors will hear a budget update at their meeting that evening.

“This budget process has resulted in some of the most difficult decisions I have had to make as Mayor,” Mulvaney-Stanak said in a press release. “While we will continue to face difficult budget decisions in the years ahead, I am committed to pursuing policy change and budgeting practices that sustainably fund City operations while also addressing affordability.”

City Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) said the council’s Board of Finance was briefed on the cuts in executive session on Monday.

“I will admit to some concern that if there is a position on the list that we don’t think should be eliminated as part of this process, we have not been given the time to provide that feedback,” he said.

“We learned just a few days ago the full scope of this proposal, and it’s a lot to take in,” he added.

This week’s Seven Days cover story examined Burlington’s budget woes and explained Mulvaney-Stanak’s “ModernGov” initiative, a yearslong effort to create a more sustainable city government. In the past 15 years, the city’s budget has nearly doubled, and its workforce has grown by 30 percent, or 116 positions. At the same time, traditional revenue streams — including federal grants that paid for some of those positions — have become less reliable or dried up completely. 

The crunch resulted in a $14.2 million budget hole last year, which Mulvaney-Stanak closed by cutting vacant positions, raising fees and using one-time money. Going forward, the city largely has two options: cut staff or raise taxes. Mulvaney-Stanak opted not to seek a general tax rate hike this year out of concern that it would exacerbate the high cost of living in Burlington.

Before Friday, Mulvaney-Stanak had only shared a glimpse into how deep the cuts might go. A planned merger between the city’s Community & Economic Development Office and the Business and Workforce Development department, plus streamlining some administrative functions, was estimated to net seven reductions. The mayor has also proposed eliminating the city’s recycling pickup program, which is comprised of four positions. As of last week, the majority of those spots were vacant.

In an email to staff on Thursday, which was shared with local media, Mulvaney-Stanak said the city won’t be changing health care, paid family leave or retirement benefits and won’t ask unions to renegotiate their existing contracts. The police and fire unions, meantime, are in the midst of bargaining new three-year contracts.