Commissions plan for new taxes appears to be put to bed now
By Barb Pert Templeton
A petition to have the city’s plan to adopt a Special Assessment District taken to a vote of the people was formerly validated and certified by City Clerk Jason Bell and accepted by the city commission at a May 21 meeting.
The SAD resolution, known as PA33 – the Police and Fire Protection Act, was being considered in order to offset a $650,000 general fund deficit. The plan was to be good for three years and bring $706,000 to the city to cover deficits with a cap of 10 percent.
Instead, after a public hearing on May 7 that included more than a dozen property owners speaking out against the new taxes, the commission did a strong reversal and voted down Resolution 09-2026. At the same time, Marine City resident Heather Warner, who led a petition drive to put the special assessment district on the ballot, turned the petitions over to the city clerk. She collected 471 signatures which she said represented about 22% of those affected by the plan.
At the recent commission meeting the results of Bell’s work on validating and certifying the petitions had been completed so the item landed on the agenda. During public comments Warner addressed the commission to talk a little about the process and what’s next.
Marine City Attorney Robert Davis speaks during a discussion about a special assessment district and the petitions filed to take the matter to a vote of the people.
“To be honest I’m concerned about the costs the city has taken on between attorney fees, mailings and the time the clerk has spent verifying signatures,” Warner said. “And since the resolution was voted down is seems like this should be a closed chapter.”
She then asked if there’s a specific law requiring an election be held now and said if so, she would like to see that in writing because her own research reflects that is not necessary.
Warner said if the commission wants to have an election now it should be looked at carefully.
“However, I think it would be better for the community if it was looked it as a much smaller general fund millage, maybe one or two mils where we were very clear about what the money would cover,” Warner said. “We’re all feeling the financial pinch right now and I think the more modest, transparent approach would go a little bit better with the public.”
When the item came up on the agenda Commissioner Sean O’Brien asked if the commission is still compelled to hold an election or is the matter put to bed because the commission voted the resolution down?
Marine City Commissioner Sean O’Brien said doesn’t the fact that the commission voted down a resolution to create a special assessment district make the need for a vote of the people a moot point now.
Attorney Robert Davis said the city took a look at PA33 and had a path to either adopting a resolution or sending it to the citizens for a vote. The city was heading down the road to doing it by resolution but there was still the citizens’ rights and they chose to create a petition.
The legal question now is does the city have the right to reject that petition when it’s been validly submitted and vetted to be proper.
“So, I’ll get you an opinion in writing so that we’re clear on this,” Davis said, noting that the right of the citizens to voice their opinion is likely something the commission wants to support.
O’Brien asked Davis if while he’s doing that letter of explanation can he also ask the petitioner to withdraw the petition now that it’s a moot point with the commission.
“I don’t think there’s an appetite even to go for that vote now and if there’s a way for them to withdraw it since we’re not going for the resolution either,” O’Brien said.
“To be honest, I’m concerned about the costs the city has taken on between attorney fees, mailings and the time the clerk has spent verifying signatures. And since the resolution was voted down is seems like this should be a closed chapter.”
Marine City resident Heather Warner, who led a petition drive to put the plan for new taxes to a vote of the people.
Davis said his preliminary answer to that is to point out that the person who circulated the petition can’t just withdraw it on their own. The reason being they don’t know why each person signed the petition.
“I don’t want to infringe on anyone’s rights that signed a valid petition, they learned it met the threshold and they learned the language was correct and now you’re just not doing anything with the petition,” Davis said. “So, we have to be careful on how we manage the petition.”
The commission then voted unanimously to receive and certify the SAD petition.
Davis said he would get back to the commission with a formal letter on the issue soon.
