Warren

Macomb leaders unite to oppose state cuts

By Brian Louwers
C & G Staff Writer

Officials urge Michigan lawmakers to find other solutions to budget crisis

WARREN — More than a dozen local leaders gathered at Warren’s new City Hall on April 24 to send a strong message to the governor and Michigan’s state lawmakers.

In essence, the message was that the well has run dry.

Gripped by ever-tightening city and township budgets and already living with the political implications of having made the tough decisions to slash jobs and streamline services, officials from many Macomb County communities stood in solidarity against cuts in state-shared revenue. They claim the cuts have already resulted in $67 million lost countywide, and as a consequence, the loss of about 70 public safety, police and fire jobs, and 250 public service positions over the last three years.

Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh said the county’s largest city has lost more than $19 million alone since 2004, resulting in budgets that have cumulatively included 13 fewer police and 34 fewer fire positions, and a total of 160 fewer city jobs.

“We’ve taken some hits,” Steenbergh said. “No longer do we want to bear the full brunt of the state’s issues. We feel the state of Michigan has to look at their own house first.”

Shelby Township Supervisor Skip Maccarone said the state’s municipalities were forced to do more with less after the passage of the Headlee Amendment in 1978 and Proposal A in 1994.

“Local property taxes were to be lowered, the state sales tax was to be raised, and a part of that higher sales tax, collected by the state, was to be returned to local governments to make up a part of the property tax income they lost,” Maccarone said. “Since Proposal A also limited millage increases, it was never expected to cover the local property tax income lost to communities. As a result, locales would now have to do their jobs with even less. We have held up our end of those bargains.”

Maccarone and other leaders called on their counterparts at the state level to put partisan politics aside, and to make the decisions necessary to balance the budget without cutting deeper into state-shared revenue paid to municipalities, which are tasked with providing the majority of daily essential services.

“I ask you, what state program has served you in the last week, month or year? And I then ask you, who provides the police, fire and ambulance service you count on to be there when you call?” Maccarone said. “The state doesn’t collect our garbage, patrol our neighborhoods, put out our fires or resuscitate our victims. We do.”

Maccarone said the state’s future is directly tied to services provided in its cities and towns.

“Quality of life is everything in this state. You can’t attract new businesses if a company’s executives don’t want their families to live in this state,” Maccarone said.

Officials in larger communities, such as Warren and Sterling Heights, said they’ve had to make tough choices in-house to balance their budgets while struggling to provide those essential services. Jobs have been eliminated across the board, while some services have been scaled back or eliminated.

Those representing smaller communities, such as Utica, Center Line and Harrison Township, said the cuts have made it even more difficult to make do with less.

Center Line Mayor Mary Ann Zielinski said her city once had a “rainy day” fund balance of about $2 million. This spring, she said city leaders would consider two budget options — one would include a proposed millage increase — as that balance had dropped to just $37,000.

Utica Mayor Jacqueline K. Noonan said residents of her city have had to deal with a reduction in services as a result of cuts totaling $1.4 million over the last four years. Without the cuts, she said, taxes for Utica residents could have been reduced by more than 2 mills.

“We’ve had to cut people in every department. We’ve had to reduce services. When you’re a tiny community, the effect is devastating,” Noonan said.

While no simple solution seems obvious, some officials did offer options for addressing what Maccarone called problems brought about by “underestimated revenue projections, unrealistic goals and expectations, and a litany of failed budgets.”

Harrison Township Supervisor Anthony Forlini said the state could start by trimming just 5 percent of its workforce.

“That’s real money without having to make any really tough choices,” Forlini said. “They don’t have to cut the police. They have to cut the bureaucracy.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Brian Louwers at brianlouwers@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1089.