My name is Carter Neubieser, and I am proud to announce that I am running for re-election to represent Ward 1 on the City Council!
I’m running because Burlington is unaffordable.
Rents have increased for a 1 bedroom by 34% and a 2 bedroom by 28%, from 2018 to 2024.
The average sale price of a home is ~$500,000.
Code is not adequately enforced and many renters are being taken advantage of.
The cost of necessities like food, utilities, and healthcare are expensive.
So what is government doing to help?
Trump is focused on trade wars that drive up prices and spats with Canada that have decimated our local tourism dollars. The Governor and leaders from both parties in the legislature are focused on gutting public education, rather than overhauling our healthcare system, taxing the rich, and making record investments in permanently affordable housing across Vermont.
Here at the city level we have an important role to play. It’s time for us to be as bold as possible in making Burlington affordable for working and middle class residents.
Our Affordability Agenda
Endorse the agenda here.
1. Make record investments in affordable housing
Double our investment in permanently affordable housing through Burlington’s Housing Trust Fund by raising the tax on hotel rooms & short-term rentals and better enforcing existing ordinance. Investigate other revenue streams to boost funding.
2. Freeze Rents
Stabilize rents by allowing the City to regulate how much landlords can increase rent every year. Renew pressure on Montpelier to respect the will of Burlingtonians—where 60% of residents rent—and allow Just Cause Eviction to become law.
3. Tax the Burlington Country Club
During the height of COVID-19, as families struggled to pay rent, utilities, and healthcare, the Burlington Country Club — a private institution serving the wealthiest residents — received a 200k break on their utility bill from then Mayor Weinberger. This was and still is backwards and unfair. Instead, lets increase the Burlington Country Club’s tax and utility bills to help stabilize local budgets. We can and should investigate other ways to increase taxes on luxury goods and services.
4. Lower costs for waste hauling
We should move towards a municipally owned, consolidated model for recycling, trash, and compost. This means cheaper trash, recycle and compost pickup for every resident every month.
5. Make existing financial incentives easier to access
Burlington provides countless incentives for going electric, installing rain gardens, and more. Rather than more well meaning communications plans, lets get city staff knocking on doors and directly helping residents access the money they are entitled to.
6. Tax the few, not the many
The City Council should seek new authority to tax the wealthy and relieve pressure on working families. That means taxing the sale of luxury homes, increasing taxes on second homes, and supporting proposals from the Mayor’s tax fairness advisors, among others.
7. Increase code enforcement’s capacity
Expand the capacity of the Department of Permitting and Inspections to enforce the law, hold predatory landlords accountable, and ensure big institutions like UVM are playing by the same rules as everyone else.