Councilor Meaghan Emery Credit: File: Oliver Parini

In an extremely close race Tuesday, incumbent Meaghan Emery won reelection to the South Burlington City Council by fending off challenger Matt Cota.

Emery earned 3,940 votes — just 74 more than Cota’s 3,866. That’s 50.47 percent for Emery to 49.52 percent for Cota.

Reached by phone around midnight Tuesday, Cota said the results were “disappointing, but we’ll pick back up tomorrow and see what happens.” He was unsure if he’d request a recount.

“I’m just really proud of the way we ran our campaign,” Cota said. “This was my first campaign, and it tells me that people in South Burlington really wanted a change.”

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He added: “It’s been an experience of a lifetime. I had so many people come out and work so hard for this.”

Meanwhile, South Burlington voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed $209 million bond for a new middle and high school facility. About 79 percent of voters — 6,514 — cast ballots against the bond. About 20.8 percent — 1,712 — voted in favor.

A Vote No sign outside of the Orchard School Credit: Sasha Goldstein

The sentiment spilled over into voting on the school budget, which residents also rejected. About 57 percent — 4,711 people — voted against the $55.8 million budget.

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Sasha Goldstein is Seven Days' deputy news editor.

4 replies on “Emery Keeps South Burlington Council Seat; Massive School Bond Fails”

  1. Shocker. And the school board passed the proposal unanimously. Every one of them ought to rethink their position.

  2. The school bond was just a warm-up.

    Now the school board will come back and say “we were able to cut $20 million from the price tag.”

    Voters will then think they’re getting a bargain.

    That’s how you boil a frog.

  3. What was City leadership thinking with the $200M+ proposed new schools? Not only did that proposal fail (no surprise there), but now the school budget failed because the voters don’t trust the leadership when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Now the SB residents get to endure the tortuous process of trying to pass a new school budget which only divides the community in so many ways and brings out the worst in everyone. How did City leadership not see this coming?

    P.S. – how much was spent on the plans for the new schools?

  4. I think it is important to remember that while most voters said NO to the bond, that doesn’t mean they’re against a less (much less) costly alternative. On Facebook and other forums, again and again residents said they want good schools and a good environment. But, the feeling is that the board wanted a champagne solution that is not what we CAN pay for. In addition, the materials from the school board said that the property tax rebates will greatly reduce the new taxes needed. What they didn’t mention in their materials is that the property rebate is limited to just over $5000. So, once the state sends back that amount and it gets applied to your education tax, you are responsible for anything extra.

    Some of us offered alternatives to the board — instead of an expensive sports complex, why not lease the closed Sears store and use that? Or why not work with a local fitness center to come up with a solution? As for projected enrollment increases and overcrowding, why not stop taking tuition students?
    The price tag itself was in question — we weren’t told even an estimate with interest included.
    I think the school board needs to be more honest and open with the taxpayers.

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