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Residents ask about turnout, regional services and school spending during South Burlington hearings
Summary
Several residents urged the city and school district to increase public turnout and explore regional service-sharing; one commenter questioned per-pupil spending and asked why the city does not start budgeting from actual prior-year expenditures.
Public commenters at the March 2 session raised questions about civic engagement, regionalizing services and specific budget choices. Chuck Siegel, president of the Lehi Eagles Homeowners Association, asked how the city can "get more people to show up to the meeting" so residents learn about local government business.
During the city budget hearing, Matthew Vigneault asked staff whether they had discussed pooling resources with neighboring towns to regionalize services and gain efficiencies. "If you've been in touch with your colleagues in other cities and towns in the county about how we can pool our resources to try to regionalize services and make things more efficient," Vigneault asked. City staff said early conversations have occurred (for example with Shelburne) and that consolidation conversations, such as for dispatch, have arisen in the past.
During the school hearing a resident questioned per-pupil spending, suggesting the district was spending "$30,000 per pupil." School officials said the state calculates per-pupil spending using a weighted-pupil methodology and indicated the raw math cited by the resident was not accurate; they offered to follow up with more detailed reconciliations after the hearing.
