A group of concerned residents in Burlington wants to create a co-operative to buy the city’s
embattled telecommunications utility. The grassroots idea comes as city officials are hoping
to settle a federal lawsuit aimed at reclaiming taxpayer money from the
municipally-owned Burlington Telecom.
Voters
in Burlington have overwhelmingly approved a $9 million fiscal stability bond. Mayor Miro Weinberger sees Tuesday’s vote as a
green light to fix the city’s money
woes by re-financing its debt.
The Burlington political landscape has been racked by controversy and contention as the mayoral race is beginning to get crowded, Vermont community libraries were impacted by flooding from Irene and the hospital budgeting process concludes.
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell doesn’t
like the way Burlington city officials handled the finances of Burlington
Telcom, but he says he won’t intervene in a prosecutor’s decision not to press
criminal charges.
An audit of Burlington
Telecom says the city-owned phone, cable TV and Internet venture ignored
state-imposed rules designed to protect taxpayers from risk.