Ann Arbor City Council keeps spending money it doesn't have
Your edition of Thursday, Feb. 18, is full of useful stories and information that would help a 50-year plus resident of our lovely city understand why we find ourselves in such a terrible financial mess.
Your headline (“City officials weigh possibility of Headlee Amendment override in lieu of city income tax”) tell us that our city council is trying to come up with $5 million plus to cover the money they’ve already spent or committed but don’t have. So let’s drag out the old saw of a city income tax, right?
And now an even more interesting twist, let’s override the Headlee Amendment, which was created to protect property owners from crushing property tax burdens created by politicians who can’t stop spending other people’s money. If they can get away with that, they can just up the property tax again and again and again.
But the article goes on to tell us that the city council has voted to spend $381,000 for a little over a half acre of land from the Elks Club on Sunset, a fancy walkway into Bluffs Park, which very few people even know exists. That’s about $750,000 an acre, a figure no one can possibly justify. It’s a figure that doesn’t pass the smell test.
And moving on, still in the same article, we learn that council has voted to continue paying an ‘outside consultant’ $21,800 for six months (that’s $43,600 a year) to “help administer the city’s public art program.” Is there no one in city hall on the current bloated payroll who could “help the city administer the public art program?”
They are quoted in the same edition as having difficulty coming up with $22 million to replace the two railroad bridges on East Stadium that seem to have disintegrated without anybody noticing it. London Bridge is falling down, but have no fear, council is here: the city’s public art program will have the assistance it requires. And they’re laying off firemen and policemen ... and heaven forbid we should mention potholes.
And they want to lift the protection of the Headlee Amendment from the shoulders of property owners. Enough already.
The cause of the financial mess we’re in isn’t hard to find. Just read your newspaper, calculator in hand.
Don H. Kenney Ann Arbor
Comments
pragmatic
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 : 9:02 a.m.
Protecting city land from development is a good use of taxpayers' money. It adds value to the city and improves the quality of life. If you want to reduce spending, you should go after the exorbitantly high wages and benefits of the City workers. I don't think it would be asking too much for the City employees to take a 3% wage cut and to start contibuting 10 to 20% toward the cost of their health care insurance. And by the way, I am a City union employee.
The Picker
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 : 3:11 p.m.
Democrats spending beyond their means? I'm shocked! Look what a great job 4 decades of their leadership has done for Detroit!
jeff4179
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 : 10:15 a.m.
One of my favorite extravagances...the recent decision to spend $2.3 million taxpayer dollars in order to install more e-park parking meters...you know, because those are so popular, and because the city has so much money, and there's no other good use for the money (like plowing the side streets that are still undriveable because of the snow). This Council is out of touch, and because of the lack of real options politically, feels untouchable. So the public keeps getting screwed.
mmggttnn
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 : 9:10 a.m.
Here's an idea. How about rescinding the millage that we city taxpayers pay for buying open space in the TOWNSHIPS, and then we'll talk about solving the city's budget problems. How stupid is this program where city taxpayers are paying for land purchases outside the city? I don't see the townships spending any of their money in the city! It's another example of the city's wasteful spending.
The Picker
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 : 8:11 a.m.
$381,000 for a half acre? Is the assessor going to use this comparable when she sets our property taxes?
The Picker
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 : 8:06 a.m.
$381,000 for a half acre? Is the assessor going to use this comparable when she sets our property taxes?
RU4A2
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 5:05 p.m.
Mr Kenney, If you were to run for mayor, you would get my vote!!
packman
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 3:10 p.m.
And moving on, still in the same article, we learn that council has voted to continue paying an outside consultant $21,800 for six months (thats $43,600 a year) to help administer the citys public art program. Is there no one in city hall on the current bloated payroll who could help the city administer the public art program? What about someone from the UM Art & Architecture school to administer this program pro bono as a continuing project for graduate students? A give back from the UM...hmmm? Let's take a mil from AATA and one from AADL and that total should do wonders to solve the city spending problem. No more taxes thank you...just spend less please.
Craig Lounsbury
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 2:20 p.m.
what we are all losing sight of in our collective outrage is whats referred to as "bucket budgeting". When we send our money in to the city they put it in a bunch of buckets. When one bucket runs out, the city won't take money out of a full bucket. Instead, we the people need to send more money to top off the empty bucket. Instead of complaining you folks need to reach in to your couch cushions and find some money to send to the city.
glenn thompson
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 1:57 p.m.
@RUKM Very high on the list should be Council's decision a few months ago to spend $6.5 million to change to single stream recycling. In the future, residents will be required to mix our recyclables so that the city can pay a contractor to separate them. The city had the opportunity to borrow money for the Pioneer High and West Park projects. It was "essential" to borrow and spend it immediately because it might not have been available the next year.
John Galt
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 12:30 p.m.
Ann Arbor is run by the Dems and the Unions. Public sector unions will bleed the taxpayers dry, just as they did the auto companies.
Basic Bob
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 12:26 p.m.
Ann Arbor loves to spend other people's money. Look at all the *free money* for the airport expansion that they want. Paid for by the federal government. The bridge replacement is in doubt because of the lack of free federal money.
Regular Voter
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 12:07 p.m.
Outrageous. The Headlee override might just be what it takes to get some political blood in the streets. Unbelievable. These people are monstrously and dangerously wrong headed. And yet they own tremendous power over us.
RUKiddingMe
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 11:36 a.m.
Hear Hear. And I will continue my incessant cry of the Fuller transit station project also. Over 300K that I know about spent already, and it's not even out of the "should we do it or not" phase. I would love for someone in the know to publish a list of the city-paid projects within the last 36 months that are not related to imperative operations, with the dollar amount next to it. And I would not exclude parking structure construction, as I feel confident that not all of it is actually critical to city operations. I'm not convinced that that whole stormwater project by Huron High was an emergency either.
scooter dog
Sun, Feb 28, 2010 : 10:01 a.m.
Great editorial mr Kenney. My thoughts exactly. I moved myself and my business OUT of A2 yrs ago for just these reasons.