Belleville City Council agrees to Romulus request to withdraw from court agreement

At its Sept 15 regular meeting, the Belleville City Council agreed to honor the request of the city of Romulus to withdraw from the 34th District Court Funding Agreement that was enacted when the new court building was planned.
Mayor Ken Voigt explained that the State Supreme Court administration wants to redo how courts are funded so they will all be the same, which isn’t the case now. The city of Romulus had signed off on its full faith and credit to back the bonds to build the new courthouse. 34th District Court cases are taxed $25 each to help pay for the bond.
Mayor Voigt said the city of Romulus is on the hook for this bond and wants to be able to negotiate with the state so the bond indebtedness works out. Mayor Voigt said Romulus mayor McCraight told him Romulus has been subsidizing the court.
To be able to negotiate with the state, Romulus has asked all five communities who are members of the 34th District Court, to withdraw from the original court agreement, if that becomes necessary in the future. The withdrawal is not immediate, he said.
The city council passed a resolution that authorizes the court to release all information the court has on payments made to the city of Belleville for fiscal years ending in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the number of tickets processed by the court and payments made by the court, showing the percentage of the ticket amount provided to the city of Belleville
In other business at the Sept. 15 meeting, the council:
• Approved raising the trash collection rates by 15% ($3.11 per month) at the recommendation of its city accountant from Plante Moran;
• Approved the mayor’s appointments of Phil Miller and Whitney Beaubien to the Belleville Downtown Development Authority. Both are longtime residents of the tri-community. Miller’s term expires on Dec. 31, 2026, and Beaubien’s term expires on Dec. 31, 2027
• Approved updating and increasing building department fees to better align with Van Buren Township, which is doing inspections for the city;
• Approved gear lockers for the police department;
• Approved Redemption Bible Church to use 4th Street Square from 7 to 8 p.m. Oct. 22 for a worship night. The church has used the Fourth Street Square before and this year they are adding refreshments of cider and donuts; and
• Approved Egan’s Pub changing the date to Oct. 17 for its annual Witches’ Ball which also uses part of the Fourth Street Square.