West Bloomfield

Vote kills millage proposal plan for 2010

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD — A last-minute effort to put public safety millage questions on the ballot this November failed at an Aug. 23 township Board of Trustees meeting.

During a board meeting, Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste and Trustee Steven Kaplan proposed referendums for a five-year renewal of the 3.1378-mill public safety tax and a five-year millage hike.

Millage supporters like Ureste say the voters should’ve had a choice this November to give the township the funding it needs to ensure police and fire staffing levels and response times.

She said a $4.1 million shortfall is expected for the 2011 budget. If the township does not find a larger stream of revenue, layoffs or an unsafe reduction in the fund equity balance would result, she said.

She added that a lack of revenue could eventually force the township to become part of a regional fire authority or accept police protection from the county sheriff’s department.

“It’s not necessarily a recipe for insanity that I keep bringing this back, but really the importance of public safety for our community,” she said.

According to assessor Lisa Hobart, the revised five-year hike plan would’ve lasted from 2010-2014. The first year would’ve seen a tax hike of 1.33 mills, and the other years would’ve had a net increase of 2.1948 mills. The plan would’ve assumed a 9 percent cut to public safety spending via concessions.

But the Board of Trustees rejected the ballot language 4-3. Trustees Gene Farber, Larry Brown and Howard Rosenberg and Clerk Cathy Shaughnessy voted no, and Ureste, Kaplan and Treasurer Teri Weingarden voted yes.

Because the township’s deadline to ask the county to put the questions on the Nov. 2 ballot was Aug. 24, West Bloomfield voters will not vote on public safety funding this year.

Ureste and her allies proposed the altered plan after the board voted 4-3 on Aug. 10 against approving ballot language for a 10-year renewal and possible increase of up to 2.0566 mills.

But Rosenberg insisted that there would be no layoffs for 2011 or 2012  and said he believed it was premature to hold a vote before seeing a police staffing plan and employee concessions.

“This is a shot in the dark,” he said.

Ureste insisted that a police reorganization plan exists, though the police chief had not presented it publicly yet.

A former trustee, Robert Spector, spoke during public comment and dismissed Ureste’s warning as “scare tactics.” But the supervisor defended her statements. “I’m a big-picture thinker,” she said. “I just see us at a critical fork in the road here.”

After the meeting, Kaplan said it was likely that the vote will now have to take place in November 2011, and he expected preparation for that would likely start in May or June.

Kaplan said he is not claiming there will be public safety layoffs following the referendums’ delay, and he added that he opposes any layoffs. But he said the projected budget shortfall would have to be filled somehow, be it through attrition, fund equity, employee concessions or dismissals.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.