WB officials preview general fund for 2026

WEST BLOOMFIELD — During its meeting Dec. 1, the West Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees reviewed plans for the 2026 budget’s general fund.

It was the last meeting before a proposal would be presented for approval. Leading the budget presentation was Allison Broihier, the township’s budget and pension manager. She noted there are 32 funds, $132.5 million in estimated revenue and more than $165 million in expenses. She highlighted how the expenses for 2026 are expected to be much higher than those in 2025.

“Part of the reason for that is the township has two funds for Parks and Recreation — debt service and capital bonds,” Broihier said. “They will be spending approximately $25 million (between) those two funds for the new Community Connect Building, as well as making $1.7 million in debt service payments next year. Overall, spending is up.”

Also contributing to the increase in the budget are the elections planned for 2026. 

Larger elections require more planning, staffing and budgeting, said the township clerk, Debbie Binder, at a special budget meeting Nov. 12. She said when comparing budgets, it is important to compare expenditures in similar election years.

“This year, we had one small election that we didn’t know we had at the start of the year. So, we’re going to look at planning, staffing and budgeting for one small election,” Binder said. “Next year, we know right away we’re going to have two large elections. In a presidential year, we know we are going to have three large elections, and possibly a fourth.”

West Bloomfield also partially funds the 48th District Court, in collaboration with Birmingham and Bloomfield Township. Patrick Dunn, the court’s administrator, presented the court’s budget for 2026.

“In the last year, we have received another rise in caseloads,” Dunn said. “We are anticipating with certainty that we are going to surpass 32,000 cases for the year.”

The court serves West Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake and Sylvan Lake. Six of the seven communities have seen a rise in traffic tickets from the previous year, according to Dunn. Traffic tickets account for the highest number of court cases.

Thus far, Birmingham has seen a decrease in traffic tickets; however, the year is not over, yet he noted. He added that general civil cases are also on the rise.

“Those cases are really significant, because they involve multiple parties … (and) a lot of court hearings,” Dunn said.

He attributes the increase in general civil cases to changes in the no-fault amendments that occurred in 2021.

“They are pretty complex cases. So, that significant rise has really affected court operations over the last year,” Dunn said.

Adding to the complexity is that the lawsuits are being initiated by providers of medical insurance versus the injured party.

“Before, they were primarily brought by the injured party,” Dunn said. “Now, the provider of medical services — whether it’s a chiropractic company, pain specialist, whatever kind of doctor or physicians’ office — can be assigned the rights of those benefits by the patient and seek to recover for medical services that they have provided through an insured party.”  

 West Bloomfield makes up more than 33% of the court cases, second to Birmingham with nearly 41% of cases and exceeding Bloomfield Township with 26% of cases. 

The proposed budget requested by the court was just more than $1.7 million for 2026 — just shy of $427,000 per quarter.  

 The trustees unanimously agreed to receive and file the budget presentations with a vote of 7-0.  All trustees were present.

Three previous public budget meetings were held in September, October and November. Residents were invited to share their input. Each of the 32 funds were discussed. 

At each budget meeting, the board members present voted unanimously to receive and file. The board is expected to vote on the township’s 2026 budget at the Dec. 8 meeting.