Burlington outlines $152 million lake (wastewater/stormwater) and $20 million drinking-water bonds; rate increases cited

Megan Moore, director of the Water Resources Division, presented the city’s water-related bond proposals on March 4, describing a staged approach that reduces the initial ask from earlier, larger proposals and focuses on near-term priorities for wastewater, stormwater and drinking water.

Moore described the lake bond, a $152,000,000 authorization for wastewater and stormwater improvements, and a separate $20,000,000 drinking-water bond. "By simply replacing our existing systems, we're certainly making sure that we're not backsliding on our protection of the lake," Moore said, adding that the lake bond includes about $30,000,000 for tertiary phosphorus removal designed to help Burlington meet the Lake Champlain total maximum daily load (TMDL) standard.

Moore said prior voter authorizations have funded work that replaced or relined about 9.3 miles of water main to date; she estimated the system still contains roughly 30 miles of water main and identified continuing risks from aging assets. She recalled the 2018 event when system failures contributed to a discharge of roughly 13,000,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Lake Champlain and stressed the need for upgrades to avoid similar episodes.

On capacity and growth, Moore said main-plant upgrades would create capacity to accept growth: staff estimate the main plant work could accommodate roughly 3,500 new housing units in the main-plant sewershed and about 5,000 new units citywide.

Moore also described drinking-water priorities tied to the city’s 7,000,000-gallon reservoir and its pump station, which supply higher-elevation parts of the city and the UVM Medical Center. She said roughly $9,750,000 of the $20 million request would target the reservoir and pump-station upgrades and that a new pump station would be built while the historical pump house would be preserved.

Moore emphasized that water-resources projects are funded by ratepayers, not property taxes: "All of the money that we're talking about with this particular presentation is rate payer funding. Water Resources does not receive any support from property taxpayers," she said.

She presented a rate projection the city used for planning purposes and said that, with the current bonds and anticipated future work rolled in, water bills could increase by as much as 89% between 2025 and 2030. Moore and staff outlined existing affordability measures: waivers of the fixed-fee portion of bills for customers who qualify for income-based programs, senior protections, rebates for sewer-lateral inspections and WaterSense fixture programs. Moore said staff are exploring additional assistance tiers for households that do not meet current program thresholds but would nonetheless face hardship.

Moore said the city would pursue grants aggressively, conduct a 60%-design peer review to tighten cost estimates before bidding, and examine alternative project delivery methods to reduce costs. She said stage 2 and stage 3 projects remain necessary but that the city hopes grant and design work will reduce future ask amounts.

No public comments on the bonds were offered during the hearing.