City Council proposes doubling public safety assessment

The Belleville City Council on Monday, June 6, voted unanimously to double the public safety special assessment from 2 mills to 4 mills for the December tax bill. This assessment is set by the council in an annual vote.
A public hearing on the budget is set for a special meeting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, June 28, to discuss the 2022-23 budget and the assessment will be discussed.
Council members said the mills had to be set before this budget hearing, but it can be adjusted after hearing from the public.
The council set the millage rate at 15.9353, reduced again by the Headlee Amendment. It started out years ago at 20 mills.
City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson said several months ago the council asked him to dive into the fire department because of response times and they came up with the idea of a duty crew, but it does cost added funding.
He said a special assessment in public safety allows other money the city has to stay with other services the city offers.
He said a fire truck is needed for the fire department and another police car is needed as one is nearing retirement.
Fire Chief Brian Loranger said the cost of a fire truck goes up every quarter. Fire Fighter Chris Zweng was more specific. He said he has learned it goes up 5% per quarter.
Mayor Pro Tem Ken Voigt asked when they will learn whether they were successful in a grant application for a fire truck and Loranger said it would be in the fall.
Councilman Steve Jones said after the capital purchases are made, the council could adjust the assessment downward next year.
Tom Fielder said from the audience that people will comment that, “Nobody ever lowers it.” He said the council will have to say what that money is going to be used for.
Chief Robinson said each mill brings $90,000 and the two mills cost taxpayers $200 per year for a $100,000 house.
Mayor Pro Tem Voigt said he wasn’t ready to vote on this assessment that evening, so people could come and comment on the proposal. But Mayor Kerreen Conley said that in order to put the public hearing notice in the paper the city needed to know this assessment figure.
Chief Robinson said what they did with the last two mills was to defray the costs of public safety. He said the reason they have the DPW truck falling apart and the street sweeper in disrepair is because two mills for public safety didn’t displace enough to cover these needs.
“We’re begging, borrowing and stealing to keep going,” he said, adding, “We have been very responsible with the two mills. … and the employees have been very responsible with their money, sometimes to a fault.”
He said they didn’t have proper police equipment and there were buckets on their desks as they waited for a new city hall.
“We can’t let the building fall down around us,” Robinson said.
Fire Fighter Zweng said with the new duty crew their response rate is expected to be two minutes.
Mayor Conley told Fielder that the council is prepared to answer questions from the public and, “We’ve been very conservative and thought-full.”
In other business at the June 6 meeting, the council:
• Discussed bringing back the goats to munch on the greenery on Horizon Park’s shoreline this summer, with a quote of $4,000 by Randy Brown. After much discussion, no vote was taken. City Manager/Chief Robinson cautioned the council about ignoring the $5,450 contract they signed with Randy Brown last summer for the goats, which included three years of maintenance at $500 a year for him to spray the hill with vegetation preventative after the goats were done. Chief Robinson said this was a sealed bid and there was another bidder and you can’t just change the bidding rules after the bid;
• Approved a proposal by the Belleville Yacht Club to upgrade the abandoned lakeside pump station on North Liberty Street at the end of First Street. The BYC, after their lakeside cleanup recently, volunteered to fix up the cute little structure by putting on a new roof and doors and windows and landscape, all at their expense. Fielder noted the land on which it sets is officially a park. DPW Director Rick Rutherford said the roof is slate and it shouldn’t be torn off. Everyone agreed the BYC should work under oversight of city administration;
• Approved acceptance of the $40,000 allocation from Wayne County Integrated Health Network for a Summer Youth Employment Program. Robinson said they have only had word-of-mouth announcements of this and there are already six applications. John Juriga asked from the audience how many minorities have been hired for this program in the past and no one had any numbers. Voigt said he said he thinks the city hires anyone who applies;
• Approved hiring the law firm of Foster Swift Collins & Smith to assist the city in handling the marijuana ordinance. Robinson said they have the highest credentials in the state in this field and since he believes an ordinance is being prepared for the November ballot the city needs expert advice. “This is long overdue,” said Mayor Conley, “since we ended up with the first proposal.” Robinson said the subject is ever-changing since now there have been case law set after the subject went before judges;
• Approved accounts payables of $86,862 and the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to A Design Line, $843.70 for uniform shirts for fire department duty crews; to Blue Ribbon contracting, $7,275 for emergency sewer repair on North Liberty and $5,145.50 for emergency sewer repair on Main Street; to Cadillac Asphalt, $733.20 for road patch; to Huron River Watershed Council, $2,333.33 for watershed assessment/MS4 Permit; to Johnston Enterprises, $509 for business cards for Bellingham and Hootman and City Seal envelopes; and to the Michigan State Police, $1,500 for template fees for donated radios. A fee of $1,700 to Radiotronics USA for programming of radios for the police and fire departments was removed from the expenditures list since it was approved paid at the last meeting;
• Heard Robinson say that they are adding six new donated police prep radios into their system which were donated by Canadian Pacific Railroad. They are the exact make and model as their current radios. He said these are very valuable and will assist PD and Reserves with extra surplus while they wait for the grant submission to get approved to order new radios;
• Learned that Belleville Fire Fighter Young got a grant for three AEDs for patrol cars worth $7,000 from Beaumont Wayne. The Fire Department will teach the officers how to use them; and
• Heard Robinson announce that he is stepping up the ordinance enforcement and wants the residents to know a police officer will visit people with blight before giving a citation. He said people have been very cooperative so far. He said dismantled cars, unregistered vehicles, uncut grass will be addressed along with other blight and he wants the residents to know this city will be looking good. He said the city had its second work program from the court and workers cut the branches in the alley between Third and Fourth Street as they did public service.