25 gather to discuss proposed public safety assessment in city

About 25 people, mostly fire fighters and their supporters, attended Monday’s special meeting of the Belleville City Council at Belleville High School to discuss the proposed 2-mill assessment for public safety.
The question is on the Nov. 5 ballot, but the result of the election is not a mandate. It’s an advisory vote.
“We wanted to have this meeting,” said Mayor Kerreen Conley at the end of the 58-minute informational session, after the council was criticized for not just making the decision on its own to levy the 2 mills two months ago.
“We didn’t need to have this meeting,” she continued. “We’ll see what happens on election day and go from there. This is not meant to be a shell game.”
“The second week in November it will be on the city council agenda,” said Councilman Tom Fielder. That is when the council could vote to levy the assessment for this winter’s tax bill.
The council said the city is not getting in enough tax money to provide public safety services, especially buying police cars and fire engines.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Conley said the money for public safety is needed for ten years because expensive equipment will take more than one year to pay off.
She said the council will have to vote to levy the 2 mills each year for 10 years. The 2 mills are expected to bring in $90,000 per year for public safety operating needs.
Councilman Jesse Marcotte read aloud the ballot language on the city’s Nov. 5 ballot. It was noted the sample ballot is on the city’s website for study.
“What happens if it’s voted down?” asked Tony Talaga.
“Would we shove it down the taxpayers’ throats?” asked Mayor Conley. “That’s not a good idea. We can vote it in or wait and look at whether it’s the 10 years that caused it to fail or what else.”
She insisted the tax revenue doesn’t cover the public safety services that they need to provide. She said it’s important for the council to have the support of the voters. One of the council members, Tom Smith, is not running again and the city will have a new council after the election.
She said maybe it wasn’t clear that specific equipment is needed for public safety, such as police vehicles and the police interview room. The fire truck is on the list of capital needs, too. The main things have been identified, she said.
Talaga asked when the one year at a time would end, in 2029?
Mayor Conley replied it could be longer.
Michael Renaud asked if the Downtown Development Authority would not be withholding funds from this assessment.
“The revenue from this special assessment would not go to the DDA,” Conley replied.
Anna Loranger said since the special assessment is only good for one year, do they have to do it every year?
“The council has to vote every year,” Conley replied. “Even if the board changes they will know the people approved it for 10 years.”
Conley said the council decided in July to go for a special assessment.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack Loria said one-third of the city’s tax base is untaxable because of the schools, churches, and the library.
“Our tax base pays for police and fire,” Loria said. “We want to see if you’re willing to pay for the services.”
Fire Chief Brian Loranger said they have a need for two fire trucks. The 1989 Ford truck has stick shift and many of his fire fighters can’t drive it. The main truck is from 1998 and is 21 years old. He said they have needed a new truck for some time.
“There is no alternative,” Fielder said of the assessment. He said Van Buren Township, which at one point considered offering fire service to the city, “is moving on and doing its own thing.”
“We can do a special assessment and we could have done it two months ago, but that wasn’t appropriate,” Fielder said.
He said the treasurer’s office will look at whether the fire truck or police vehicle should be purchased first, and officially develop a plan, after the city gets the money.
He said they would have to develop a payment plan. The fire truck is urgent, but it has to come with the other needs, he said. He said vests and turnout gear and other things would have to be considered.
“Day to day necessities,” Fielder said. “Each council can change that. This is an advisory vote.”
Cynthia Talaga asked if the assessment could go for wages.
Mayor Conley said it would be used for both operating and capital expenses.
“That’s why the language is written the way it is,” she said.
Councilman Jesse Marcotte said they looked at the assessment, which had a wider pool and no DDA, versus a millage, which would have a smaller pool. He said every year the council would vote and under state law they could levy from zero mills to 20 mills. He said other cities have levied 14 mills for public safety.
He said they have decided a maximum of 2 mills. He said since 2012, the city’s public safety expenses have exceeded the tax revenue.
Eric Luke said you can expect a low turnout in an off year and so what the few voters say isn’t the whole story. He asked the council why they didn’t make the decision they were elected to make.
“Why play this game of taking this to the voters?” Luke asked. “Twenty or thirty show up and want it. Why not make the hard choice? Just vote for it.”
“I think this is the hard choice,” Councilman Marcotte said.
Luke said this is “governing through polls.” Rather than putting it on the ballot, which is expensive, it would be cheaper going door to door.
Fielder said they had until the third week in November to put the assessment on the tax roll for this year.
“We felt it was appropriate to have a public hearing,” He said. “If 99% of the people say no, it doesn’t mean we couldn’t do it anyway. A new council could disagree.”
Luke, who is public safety director/police chief for Sumpter Township, said he’s obviously supportive of the assessment.
“I’ve never heard of something going on the ballot and not being binding,” Luke said. “Maybe ‘game’ wasn’t a good word for me to use. But, it’s a very strange way to do it. I’m in favor of it.”
When asked how much it would cost a taxpayer, Mayor Conley said the 2 mills on a $400,000 home would cost $200.
A fire fighter asked if this would just supplement everything or could the fire and police departments lose money from their budgets.
“If they just needed $50,000 and we had $90,000, we could offset operational costs in police and fire and could move the money out to another project and could take it out of fire fighters and police budgets,” the mayor said.
A man who identified himself as the president of the Victoria Commons Homeowners Association said, “We don’t want you to reduce the police and fire budgets and replenish the city budget so you can put art fixtures up and down Main Street.” He said the Victoria Commons residents pay up to a $1 million in taxes.
“I support this assessment, but you guys have a spending problem,” he said.
Marcotte said for every $1 in taxes city residents pay, 37 cents come to the city in two pots, the DDA and the city. He said of that under 25 cents goes to the city budget. There is not enough money coming in. He pointed out the city is landlocked and can’t grow and the churches and schools do not pay taxes.
“We wouldn’t want to create a shell game where you take from one and give to another,” Marcotte said.
The Victoria Commons president said he would like to fix the problem permanently.
Marcotte said Belleville doesn’t have a public safety millage, but many municipalities do.
Anna Loranger said the sculptures in the city are rented and not owned. She asked who decides on this and was told the DDA board furnishes the art.
Fire Chief Loranger said, in the end, it’s the taxpayers who pay for the sculptures. He told how he asked for $160,000 for the fire department in the new budget and it was cut $60,000.
“How do I know you won’t do that again?” Chief Loranger said.
“I would like to have this vote so future councils can say 90% of the voters (and you can talk about the numbers later) want to do this…” Fielder said.
“It will start to look like a shell game,” Chief Loranger said referring to Marcotte’s comments. “You can cut the fire department budget again and fill in with the assessment … it feels like I’m being penalized for being fiscally responsible.”
After more discussion, Marcotte said to Chief Loranger, “I don’t think you should have to ask, time after time, for things you need.”