Citizens start petition against city plan for new taxes
By Barb Pert Templeton
As Marine City officials struggle to pass a balanced budget and consider creating a special assessment district (SAD) to raise funds while increasing residents’ taxes, there’s definitely a storm brewing in the city.
After meeting with department heads and commissioners plus hosting a pair of budget workshops, City Manager Michael Reaves said finding a solution for the $650,000 general fund budget deficit will require significant cuts.
Those cuts would mean heavily reducing services in the city so an alternative is to create a special assessment district to raise the money needed to balance the budget.
So far, it’s been proposed that the city adopt a resolution for 5 mils to raise $740,000 but that would come with a set of new taxes for all the property owners across the city.
“We are doing this at the same time we’ve given residents and businesses higher water and sewer bills and we also have repair bills coming and we also have significant infrastructure issues in terms of our waste water plant,” Reaves said at a meeting on April 16.
A public notice about an upcoming townhall on the city budget is currently being circulated in Marine City.
“It’s a storm that has finely landed,” he added.
A townhall meeting to explain the situation to residents is set for Tuesday, April 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at city hall. The meeting will be live-streamed by CTV Channel 6.
When news of the city’s plan to possibly create a special assessment district by resolution, potentially without a vote of the people, reached city resident Heather Haas Werner, she launched a petition drive to collect signatures that will put the plan on the ballot.
Michigan’s Public Act-33 allows municipalities to fund their police and fire departments utilizing up to 10 mils to do so but Werner posted on the Facebook page, City of Marine City Michigan, “I personally believe that we can have enough budget cuts in order to balance our budget appropriately.”
A petition against allowing the city to establish a special assessment district to increase taxes so they can balance the city budget is currently being circulated in the Marine City.
She explained that the petition requires the signatures of at least 10% of the property owners in the city and it states that residents object to the establishment of a special assessment district. The Facebook post swiftly picked up nearly four dozen comments from concerned taxpayers
Werner plans to be outside the upcoming townhall meeting on Tuesday to collect signatures for the petition.
At the last city commission meeting Reaves expressed his regret at having to share the dire news about the city’s finances but said righting the ship “can’t be kicked down the road any further.’
“It’s unfortunate that the seven of you (referring to the city commissioners) are at this point, I recognize how difficult it is for you, you’re taxing yourself as well as taxing everybody else,” Reaves said. “But I offer that the alternative would be far more injurious to the citizens and the business community and to the long-term health of the city.”
“We are doing this at the same time we’ve given residents and businesses higher water and sewer bills and we also have repair bills coming and we also have significant infrastructure issues in terms of our waste water plant. It’s a storm that has finely landed.”
Marine City Manager Michael Reaves
Reaves has previously stated that the law requires the city adopt a balanced budget and not doing so can mean having the state step in and place the city in receivership. That would mean a court-appointed party would take over running the city.
He said they need more residents, more homes to be built in the city and more development just to spread the cost out over more people, the city’s been losing residents for years.
Marine City Attorney Robert Davis, speaking about establishing a special assessment distric
“Many people do it, it is definitely a revenue raising mechanism and it does help community’s balance their budget process. But raising of the money is pushed down effectively to a tax on your citizens. What that number would be we don’t know right now.”
The recent commission meeting also had City Attorney Robert Davis spending some time explaining that the special assessment district is authorized, legally, for use and just as Reaves said this is a tool officials can use to balance their budget.
“Many people do it, it is definitely a revenue raising mechanism and it does help community’s balance their budget process,” Davis said. “But raising of the money is pushed down effectively to a tax on your citizens. What that number would be we don’t know right now.”
The Marine City offices are located at 260 S. Parker Street.
