Government

Millage Talk Dominates Public Comment at Council Meeting

Pro- and anti-millage supporters speak on May 3 ballot proposal in Ferndale.

6 Comments

‹ Back to Article

new

Embed | Share

Nearly 20 people had something to say to Ferndale City Council.

Photos (1)

Photos

Nearly 20 people had something to say to Ferndale City Council.

Credit Terry Parris Jr.

Upload Photos and Videos

Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter barely said "call to audience" when more than a dozen people shot up and formed a queue behind the podium.

Ferndale is a week away from a millage proposal on the May 3 ballot which Coulter called a "defining moment" for the city. Almost everyone in the queue wanted to talk taxes. About 20 people, the most so far this year, had something to say.

Call to audience gives residents three minutes to address council on items not on the regular agenda. The period typically lasts 30 minutes but seeing the number of residents who wanted to speak, the mayor opened it up again after the Council completed its agenda items.

Ferndale is facing a projected $2.3 million shortfall this year and, over the next four, an estimated $16 million shortfall in the city's general operating fund. This fund covers police, fire, general government operations and portions of the department of public works.

About half of the revenue the city collects for the general fund comes from property taxes, which have been declining and are projected to continue to decline. The other big chunk of city revenue comes from state revenue sharing, also expected to be a sliver of what it was last year. In 2009 city revenue came in at about $19.5 million. This year revenue is expected to be about $15.1 million.

Residents will have a chance May 3 to vote for or against a millage increase. An increase would raise the general operating fund 3 mills this year and up to 2.45 mills over the next four years. The increase to a total tax bill would be 6 percent this year and about 5 percent over the next four.

Council appointed a 12-member Financial Planning Committee in August. Each member came from a voting precinct in Ferndale and the 12th member was a Ferndale businessman. The committee met for 14 weeks and in January presented its unanimous recommendation of a tax increasing measure called the Headlee Override.

Council adopted the recommendation. Since then campaigns have formed in favor of and against the millage proposal. On Monday night, the last Council meeting before the May 3 election, supporters from both camps came out to be heard.

The yes side said a yes vote is a vote for police, fire and the future of Ferndale.

"We can't cut our way to a solution and we can't tax our way to a solution. … And we can't do it with two or three spaghetti dinners," resident Mary Shusterbaurer said. "I'm voting yes on May 3 because I don't want to see my investment go down the drain. I urge the other citizens of the community to do the same."

The no side believes the millage is unneeded and voting in favor of it would be too much of an increase.

Resident Al Richards said there is a "big ol' white elephant" sitting across from City Hall called the Ferndale Public Library. "See that," pointing in the direction of the library, "close it down. Close down city hall two more days. … Let's cut to the bone."

Read the public comment in favor of the millage proposal on May 3 here.
Read the public comment against the millage proposal on May 3 here.

What do you have to say to Ferndale City Council? Tell us in the comments.

Thanks. We'll email you the next time we update this story.

Ian Williamson

11:33 am on Thursday, April 28, 2011

The public library is not a "big ol' white elephant." I highly doubt that the large number of library patrons in the city would agree with Mr. Richards. It is unbelievable to me that people in this community would rather close the public library than pay an extra $20 or so per month in property taxes. Moreover, not only is the library funded through its own dedicated millage, which is not currently up for a vote, but destruction of amenities like libraries causes property values to go down. So, if we chose to destroy our quality of life and give up our city services and amenities in order to save a couple hundred bucks a year, odds are that those of us with mortgages that exceed the value of our homes would end up even further underwater.

I moved to Ferndale specifically because of the city services and amenities like the downtown and the library, and I am sure I'm not the only one. Perhaps those citizens who don't value the amenities that Ferndale offers should move to Royal Oak Township, or some other community with zero amenities, and enjoy the low property values and lower rates of taxation that go with them.

Terry Parris Jr.

11:40 am on Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ian: The library presented last night during the budget meeting and VP of the board, Jim O'Donnell said that shutting down the library would actually cost the city about $300K. There have been several examples, during the budget meeting, that drastic cuts actually cost the city more money than what it appears to be saving. The police and court presentations of cuts are examples of this, too:
http://ferndale.patch.com/articles/cuts-to-police-fewer-officers-longer-waits
http://ferndale.patch.com/articles/cuts-in-court-loss-of-revenue-poor-service-repeat-offenders

Todd Abrams

12:21 pm on Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ironically, while Al Richards was making his absurd comments, the Ferndale Public Library was hosting WDET and a large group of Ferndale residents who had nothing but positive things to say about our community. Spending a few hours with these engaged and warm-hearted citizens makes me confident that this millage will pass despite the tactics of a disingenuous vocal minority.

Linda Baker

8:03 pm on Thursday, April 28, 2011

Sounds like Mr Richards has never observed the library in action - the resources are used by a large number of our citizens who would have to go to another community if ours closed, perhaps some of them would have transportation problems or might have to pay non-resident fees. Just because YOU don't use something doesn't make it invaluable. Many groups use the meeting rooms on a regular basis and the events held inside and outside the building are valuable to the community as a whole.

If City Hall were to be shut down another two days a week it would take forever to get things done - nobody would get answers to questions when they were needed - work would pile up and everything and everyone would suffer - digging out of a hole is harder than staying out of it, all of the progress made in the past 10 - 15 years would be destroyed. Business owners wouldn't want to stay and we would just be in further trouble taxwise.

I used to be able to pay my taxes at city hall as well as my water bill and get a garage sale permit but Friday is my day off and they are now closed, so now we pay someone else to take in those payments and drop permitting garage sales, we get no receipts for our payments and have to pay the bank to stop payments or give us copies of our cancelled checks if there is a problem - I think the banks have us just where they want us - but thats another topic.