Residents’ object to “tax increases”
Public Comments:
…Mr. Brady concluded his comments by saying he thinks the proposed budget clearly is conservative and attempts to spread the current fiscal and economic situation across the City.
Terry Tuck, 3017 Partridge, indicated the gentleman said they transferred $550,000 out of a fund to use this year, and he asked how much money is in that account.
When Mr. Brady answered $2.5 million Mr. Tuck said $2.5 million in that one account and asked how much money is in all the City accounts. How much money do you have in the bank?
Mr. Brady stated currently we have approximately at least $25 million but it’s not all ours; it’s other communities.
Mr. Tuck said $25 million and asked how much interest you get for $25 million in the bank.
Mr. Brady told him in today’s market the rates are very low. Recognize that a large portion of these funds is related to utilities and has been set aside for tap fees and further future improvements. In the budget there is approximately $1 million to $1.5 million in the general fund. There’s $2.5 million in the budget stabilization which was earmarked for this purpose, and we set aside a number of resource items and revenue items so we would be able to use it over the next three to five years. That’s what we have planned for under our five-year plan.
Mr. Tuck commented that he asked how much interest he gets off of this $25 million, and he didn’t answer that. Was there an answer in there?
Mr. Brady stated it could range currently between less than 1% to for example 1.85% to 2% annually.
Mr. Tuck stated you guys are here to vote to raise our taxes. When the Mayor said increase the millage his comment was increase the millage, raise our taxes. He asked if it was correct that when the Presidential election went through there was a tax increase on the ballot that was turned down.
Mayor Hinkley believed there was a charter amendment to increase line item purchasing from $3,000 to $7,000 in the departments without having to come before Council for approval for that. For example, a respirator in the Fire Department roughly costs $7,000 and with that we were looking at those types of items. We shouldn’t put our firefighters in harm’s way, and if they need a new respirator we should allow our Public Safety Director to go out and purchase a new respirator and not have to come to us for a budget approval of $3,000.
Mr. Tuck asked if the last tax increase that was put before the voters passed or not. The last time you put a tax increase up for a vote, was it passed?
The Mayor replied that the library passed, and the bikepath/safety path and road millage passed last year.
Mr. Tuck wanted Council to know that when he walks out his front door there are five empty houses (repo’s). Right now, currently, his property taxes are 40% of his house payment. One house that has direct access to Loon Lake that once appraised for the exact same amount as his house just sold for $50,000. So the 14% this gentleman was talking about is totally flawed. His property taxes have only gone down $100. If his assessment went down 14% he thinks he should’ve got 14%.
Mr. Tuck went on to say if you guys are going to go ahead and raise taxes without putting it to a vote of the people maybe you should try to save money other places. You could cut more money from the City Manager’s Office, from wherever you have to; but people out here on the street are hurting. In our neighborhood there are people all over that lost their jobs. He indicated the gentleman sitting with him doesn’t have a job any more. How’s he supposed to pay a tax increase? His personal income has gone down over 50% in the last two years, and his value (according to the house that sold on the lake) went down 50% in the last two years. So you guys need to come up with another way to make this work. You can cut pay to make this work. You can get rid of people that are ready to retire. He doesn’t need his street plowed first thing in the morning. You could sell some City property. You’ve got all kinds of ways to make money. Raising the taxes is not it because we don’t have the money. Your people do not have the money. He told Council we elected you and maybe next time there should be a bunch of eighteen year olds up there maybe with a little more common sense.
Michael McDonald, 2005 Lamella, stated Wixom is a municipal corporation; and it just so happens that the people that are property owners pay the freight for the corporation. With some of the figures tonight, he’s been through this process probably 25 times and always pointed out that some times figures aren’t what they appear. Waste Management (our garbage pickup) has nothing to do with the City budget. Waste Management gives us a bill. We divide it by the number of people that are having garbage put out, and that’s what it costs per unit. Now, the cut in the Building Department isn’t really a cut because our Building Department works on activity. If nobody is building no money is coming in and no money goes out. If you look at personnel costs eight years ago just like the automobile company he said legacy costs are going to kill us. Maybe you’ve agreed people will take a pay freeze but retirement and hospitalization go on. If you look at personnel costs (just personnel) you’ll see that it’s creeping up.
Mr. McDonald said Mr. Brady gave a great presentation, but his taxes haven’t gone down. They might go down this year, but they haven’t gone down one penny. So when you’re drawing conclusions about what the taxpayer is paying if you’ve been in your house a while, his property last year went up for a cost of living which he found unbelievable. His property got a cost of living increase, but he didn’t. So we really have to look long and hard.
He stated he was a little bit concerned about the budget stabilization fund because as Mr. Tuck pointed out you’ve still got a lot of money left there. He was concerned because the amount of money we’ve burned through to this date put off the reality Mr. Tuck is telling us about, about people that aren’t working and houses that are vacant. He’s sure a lot of us know what’s happening in the real world. It’s easy, and he knows you’ve got to pay those to play with the Headlee Amendment what it is. All that money that went into the stabilization fund came from the shareholders (the property owners). So the money you have came from the property owners. Now because certain things have not transpired that should have transpired, just like the automobile companies, legacy costs are going to kill us; and we have to look at change. If you’re not going to get the change there then his guess is the old adage. You can take a couple bucks but all it is is rearranging chairs on the Titanic.
Scott Peterson, 1425 Wren, stated he lives in the same subdivision (Birch Park) as Mr. Tuck. He just wanted to reiterate exactly what he said. He has the same situation and is sitting in a house that is worth half. He could sell it for less than half what he could have sold it for in 2007, and he believes from 2007 his taxes may have changed $100 or $200. The house next door to him, a three-bedroom ranch on half an acre that sold for $140,000 to $150,000 two years ago, is now on the market at $85,000 or best offer. Our taxes are high enough. We can’t keep paying. He’s paying well over $3,000 every year and it’s hard to keep paying that while you watch your value drop and you really don’t see a drop in the taxes. He knows it’s tied into the Headlee and knows you could raise things 6% and our property values have to drop a long way before we’ll get much of a change, but he thinks you’re hearing from people that there isn’t money in people’s pockets. There is not that extra money. Everybody has to take a hit, not just the taxpayers. Most of the taxpayers are taking a big enough hit already.
There being no one else who wished to address Council, Mayor Hinkley closed the public hearing at 8:19 pm.
