Bright idea
Charged up
Winter Lights brightens Shelburne Museaum at darkest time of the year
New three-school high school hockey co-op starts first season
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the DECEMBER 26, 2025
otherpapersbvt.com
VOLUME 49, NO. 52
City needs growth for TIF success LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
even sang as needed. Anderson, a Monkton resident and lawyer, is on a quest to host storytelling events at every library in the state. This year, there were
The South Burlington Tax Increment Financing District is in good financial standing, but according to a recent report, for the city to realize the full benefits of its success, development and growth must continue. The city will hold a “substantial change” hearing next month to update anticipated growing costs in the TIF District Plan and Financing Plan, particularly for outstanding projects, with costs that have exceeded former projections. Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is one of the most powerful economic tools available to municipalities for financing public and private development. It is essentially a way a town or city pays for improvements in a specific area without raising tax rates. Once the area is designated — in South Burlington’s case, it’s a small subset of the 300-acre City Center — the current level of property taxes from that area continues to go to schools and government as usual. The municipality is then able to borrow money to build roads, sidewalks or other public
See STORIES on page 10
See TIF DISTRICT on page 9
PHOTO BY SOPHIA BALUNEK
Samara Anderson hosted the Best of Vermont Storytelling 2025 event in the South Burlington Public Library’s auditorium on Dec. 18.
Libraries host stories in and out of books SOPHIA BALUNEK STAFF WRITER
Samara Anderson has an oft-repeated mantra: “Everyone has a story and everyone has an interesting life.” Emotions shifted from laugh-
ter to wonder to sympathy as Vermonters from nine towns across the state took to the stage of the South Burlington Public Library last Thursday for a Best of Storytellers event. Presenters were tasked with telling true stories, without notes,
between five and eight and a half minutes. The audience was instructed to give “thunderous applause” as each storyteller made their way to the stage and to be present, active listeners. And that they were. The crowd giggled, guffawed, fell silent or
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