BURLINGTON, Vt. -
A new proposal has emerged for the future of Burlington Telecom. A group of citizens want to turn the troubled utility into a cooperative.
The city-owned cable, internet and phone provider is mired in debt, owing $17 million to taxpayers and perhaps more than $30 million to its former leaseholder, CitiBank.
The city has been looking for private partners that would be willing to finance some of that debt and operate BT going forward.
But the group called "Keep Our Telecom Local" wants to preserve public ownership of the utility. The group hopes to drum up support for its co-op idea at a public meeting next week.
