Letter from elected officials to Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners calls for human services millage
AnnArbor.com has received a copy of a letter sent today to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners and county administrators, urging them to support a countywide human services millage. The letter is co-signed by five countywide elected officials, including the sheriff, prosecuting attorney, clerk/register of deeds, water resources commissioner, and county treasurer.
Here's the text of that letter:
Commissioners:
As office holders elected to provide essential services to all the people of this county, we have watched the budget process with great interest and growing concern. Having attended your committee and Board meetings, as well as the retreat held on April 11, we are concerned that competing demands for a vast array of programs and services have led to the lack of a clear Board consensus to adequately fund the basic mandated services that our citizens demand, pay for, and are entitled to as a matter of law and responsible government.
We have spent much time this year answering questions designed to inform the budget process. We have documented those services that are mandated by the Michigan Constitution and by statutes. We have worked through worst-case scenarios illustrating what would happen if the services we must provide were cut even further. These exercises further illustrated that across-the-board cuts, by whatever name, are not responsible. The essential services of county government - the reason that county government exists - cannot be cut further.
We are aware that the Board has a tradition of generous funding to non-governmental organizations that provide important human services. We also support these services. Clearly, however, county government can no longer provide tax money to generously support non-governmental agencies, and even certain important but non-mandated services within County government,
The commitment of members of this Board and the people who tirelessly lobby commissioners illustrates the strong support for human services in this community. To harness this support and provide adequate funding for these non-mandated services, we propose that a human services referendum be placed on the November 2010 ballot to fund those services that county government can no longer afford to support with current tax dollars.
We believe that the taxpayers should have a direct voice in determining if we should support good, though non-mandated services, and that service providers should become our partners in securing a sustainable source of funding by working for passage of such a millage. The likelihood of success is great when the cause is the right one. Recall, for example, that a millage to support Safe House passed in 1992 with over 60 percent of the vote. A human services millage would have an even wider potential base of support.
As county-wide elected officials, we commit to supporting and campaigning for a human services millage. We urge the Board to take the necessary action that will allow us to do so. We also urge the Board to adopt a budget that ranks those services mandated by the Constitution and state law as its highest priorities.
Sincerely,
Janis Bobrin, County Water Resources Commissioner Jerry Clayton, County Sheriff Lawrence Kestenbaum, County Clerk/Register of Deeds Brian Mackie, County Prosecuting Attorney Catherine McClary, County Treasurer
Comments
GerryMolar
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 12:03 p.m.
There's nothing stopping anybody from donating more money to the county. So if anybody in Washtenaw county feels they are not paying enough taxes, donate. I'm sure the county board will do wonderful things with this donated money.
KeepingItReal
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 10:30 a.m.
It is absolutely absurd for those so called county leaders to be promoted as "thinking outside the box." The easiest alternative they can provide is to place another tax on the already over-taxed citizens of the county. Thinking outside the box for me means askig hte hard questions as to how the county administration allowed the finances to get in this predicament; thinking outside the box means looking at the current operation and eliminating "fat" or unproductive costs centers; thinking outside the box means taking a critical look at the huge amount of money that is spent sending county employees and non-employees to expensive conferences that does not benefit the citizens of this community; thinking outside the box means a halt to constructing new facilities against the taxpayers wishes; thinking INSIDE the box means placing a millage on ballot to increase the taxes of tax payers. Please, do not give these so-called county leaders any great credit for being innovative. Their solution is the lazy way out of the mess they have created. Janet Bobrin; created a potential liability of the county; Sheriff department employees just cost the taxpayers millions of dollars lawsuits; Brian Mackie idea of county fundraising is to fill the county jails. Don't count on my support.
Bob Martel
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 9 a.m.
I think that this is a good idea worthy of further discussion. Id like to think that the citizens of Washtenaw County would react well to a targeted millage that leveraged taxpayer resources with the existing non-profit infrastructure. However, since money is fungible, Id want to make sure that a substantial percentage of the funds raised via this millage was dedicated to be redistributed to the non-profits who are working to provide some of these mandated services. Otherwise, this millage could just become a back door way to fund deficiencies in other County departments.
Alan Goldsmith
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 8:29 a.m.
From the A2 News 4/6/2009: "Janis Bobrin, the county's Water Resources Commissioner, and David Michener, a landscape architect, were among those encouraging city officials to stand firm on the plan to construct a Herbert Dreiseitl-designed installation. Bobrin observed that the German artist and landscape architect was uniquely qualified to design a "waterscape" project. The installation is to incorporate stormwater captured on the city hall property." Ms. Bobrin is now a hypocrite to be supporting 'human services' when she was so reckless with taxpayer dollars just a few short months ago vis a vis this project at new Courts-Police buidling. While the human services issue needs to be resolved immediately, Ms. Borbrin is not someone I would trust to provide such moral guidance.
xmo
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 7:51 a.m.
Everybody is making less money,being taxed more and people are leaving the state. I have reduced my spending to reflect this, lets run Washtenaw County like my home, reduce spending! I know these programs are really really great but if you do not have the money you cannot fund them. Maybe a church or a non profit group would take over these services like before.
Top Cat
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 7:20 a.m.
Go ahead and put it on the ballot. Perhaps they will understand the resounding NO they hear from taxpayers in November.
jackcrete
Fri, Sep 11, 2009 : 6:39 a.m.
How can anyone say that asking for more money is thinking outside the box? I own a small construction business, and I will tell you that we have slashed all our pricing to the point of non-profitability. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I can ask my customers to pay more, I would be out of business. I recently gave a homeowner a bid and he literally laughed at me, then told me he had 3 other contractors that would do it for HALF!!!!!So... go ahead and ask for more money, hopefully the residents will see through this and stop this gov. spending.
shawnsbrain
Thu, Sep 10, 2009 : 11:09 p.m.
Asking for more money from the taxpayers is NOT thinking outside the box! It is just like the government to ask for more when we have to do with less. Thinking out side the box would combine administrative positions throughout the county and cut out the FAT. Stream lining is the key to the future. The status quo is wasting money. Government needs to enter the real world.
Matt Hampel
Thu, Sep 10, 2009 : 10:38 p.m.
And here's the story, from the Ann Arbor Chronicle: http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/09/10/county-millage-for-human-services/
Ryan J. Stanton
Thu, Sep 10, 2009 : 8:52 p.m.
This was our last story: Budget cuts are tough for Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, mental health services on the chopping block http://bit.ly/10rVCc
751
Thu, Sep 10, 2009 : 7:45 p.m.
If solutions like this are NOT proposed, our communities can be assured that there will be cuts to human services that many citizens regard as extremely valuable. There currently are no viable alternatives to these cuts that will inevitably affect some of us. Very simply, the reduced tax base has put county administrators in the position of having to make cuts out of necessity. This isn't merely a matter of government employees asking for more money. They are presenting an option for the Board to consider prior to laying off employees in mandatory cost-cutting measures, therefor reducing or eliminating some services altogether. I for one commend those leaders for thinking outside the box and attempting to put the power back in the people's hands.
antikvetch
Thu, Sep 10, 2009 : 6:52 p.m.
Government employees asking for more government dollars! How refreshing!