Early Wednesday morning, the day after the August Primary Election, the Van Buren Township Clerk’s office sent out a notice for a special township board meeting at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 9. The only item on the agenda is to consider approval of the Public Safety Millage Proposal ballot language for the Nov. 8 General Election.
The proposal is for 6.5 mills for seven years. This would replace the 4-mill levy that expires in December 2016.
The ballot question proposal reads:
CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF VAN BUREN
COUNTY OF WAYNE, MICHIGAN
RESOLUTION 2016-10
Ballot Question Proposal – Public Safety Millage
Shall the Charter Township of Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan assess a 6.5 mill levy to provide funds for public safety services, including: police; fire; dispatch; emergency
management; and ordinance enforcement? The 6.5 mills ($6.50 per $1,000 taxable value) is to be levied against all property within the Township, pursuant to 1947 PA 359, as amended, for a period of seven years beginning December 2017 through December 2023, inclusive, which would be approximately $6,421,136 when first levied in December 2017, less the estimated tax captures: Downtown Development Authority in the amount of $292,084 (pursuant to 1975 PA 197, as amended); and Local Development Finance Authority in the amount of $128,266 (pursuant to 1986 PA 281, as amended). If approved, this new millage would replace a previously authorized police and fire services millage that expires December 2016.
So the board has been planning to ask for that elusive raise again and right after the election. That was well planned. I hope the people who voted for these scam artists to return to office enjoy the next 4 years of misery. Nice job people voting for the name and not the duty.
The manner is which millage proposal is being presented is disturbing. The day after the Primary Election. Also, asking for 6.5 mills again after the same proposal was defeated in an earlier election. Again, this is to create a “Segregated Visteon Bond Fund”. The current elected Officials will not state this, but this is the purpose for the increased 2.5 Mills. Question,? Did the entire Board have knowledge of this proposal? This is a slap to the face of our residents! I FULLY SUPPORT our Public Safety Department and FULLY SUPPORT the renewal of the current 4 Mill Public Safety Millage. The problem in VBT is inadequate management of our taxpayer dollars. Responsible Management is necessary in proper spending of our General Fund monies. Budget Management on a daily basis in a necessity,and is not happening.
I agree with Mike although I wouldn’t consider it a raise. It’s a scalping. It’s a continuation of the bait and switch tactic driven by the entire Board, minus McC. The 4 mills for Public Safety need to be renewed and the additional 2.5 mills need to be scrapped.
Let the new Board investigate the Visteon situation, see where they can make cuts, deal with the Blended Rate issue, legacy costs for retirees, 20% employee copay for insurance, splurging on DPS vehicles, Board oversight of DDA spending and bond issuance, tax abatements for manufacturing, renegotiate tipping fees and mandated Medicare when retirees turn 65.
There are definitely cuts to be made that will make a difference to the Visteon situation without a handout from the residents.
Get to Work!
The problem with this is that the residents will vote this down again and then when the board tries to get the 4 mil renewal, they will have already shot themselves in the foot because there is a high probability that the renewal would be voted down after this. The residents are not stupid and are not going to pass a millage increase to this current board that is negligent. You are defacing yourselves and making a very hard job to the new combers that were just voted in. I suppose Sharry Budd still has no thoughts outside the box to fix the solution that lurks called Visteon Bonds. It’s a real shame, the residents have been bamboozled again.
Diane, if I read it correctly, McNamara did vow to get rid of the blended rate dilemma. That is one of the biggest issues with the PS budget. The insurance copay can definitely be adjusted. Let us hope that McNamara does what he promised.
McNamara is not going to do what he promised, he is going to do whatever Budd tells him to do. Budd wants the residents to pay for the Visteon mistake because she is the only surviving member of the king team and remains silent as to what she was thinking when the full faith and credit our township was pledged. Her only solution so far is to ask the residents to pay for the king mistake. She will never admit her mistake, she will continue in silence in hopes that the taxpayers will pay.
MCCLANAHAN SHOULD RUN AS A “‘WRITE IN” FOR SUPERVISOR. SHE’S THE ONLY ELECTED OFFICIAL THAT DOES NOT WANT TO ASK THE TAXPAYERS FOR THE FUNDS TO PAY FOR “THE VISTEON MISTAKE”