Pittsfield Township voters go to the polls May 3  to decide on an increase to the township’s 10-year public safety millage. It actually expires at the end of the year and the one mill increase will nearly double the millage bringing it to 1.95 mils. 

Mandy Grewal

Lucy Ann:  How important is this vote?

Grewal: In terms of the importance of the vote coming up with Pittsfield Township, I believe that Pittsfield been a cornerstone when it comes to public safety.  We are one of the safest communities in Washtenaw County. What our voters are faced with is a choice in terms of whether they want to retain the level of services we currently have in Pittsfield Township to be able to be one of those safest communities that provides public safety services at one of the lowest costs. The reason we need to increase the millage rate at this time is because all jurisdictions are facing a severe decline in revenues, not just from the state - from property taxes, etc.  The general fund has supported public safety services.  Up to 50 percent of the general fund is used for public safety services. So, with those kinds of severe declines in revenues, the general fund is not able to continue that level of support for public safety.   I know Dexter Township is on the ballot for May 3, and we’ve had a number of jurisdictions on the ballot in November of 2010, also requesting voters to increase their public safety millages for this very reason. And I would like to point out that even though we are requesting that 1.95, and if folks were to approve that, we would continue to have one of the lowest costs of providing public safety services, which is police, fire, and E911 in Washtenaw County.

Lucy Ann: How is that possible to have the lowest cost in Washtenaw County?

Matt Harshberger

Harshberger:  We don’t have the legacy costs that a lot of the older established departments have, and that’s a huge reason. We also were able to negotiate five-year contracts with most of the unions for zero percent wage increases. It really comes down to police officers, firefighters, and dispatchers are a team, where they understand the township’s financial need to kind of be conservative.  They’re doing their part too to try and keep costs down.   It has been a group effort.

Lucy Ann: Talk about those kinds of concessions that have been made because many municipalities and townships are trying to do just that. How were you able to negotiate that?

Harshberger:  I think it was more or less when we entered negotiations we had an open dialogue about the township’s financial situation and the economy in Michigan in general and the fact that many departments are having to cut back and lay off personnel. The only way we were able to prevent that was to go into a situation where we had to negotiate zero percent wage increases, and they were very understanding of that and agreed.

Lucy Ann: What about health care? Pensions? Any movement in those arenas?

Harshberger: They stayed the same currently.  Really, health care costs have been going up as they have for most municipalities. That is an uncontrolled budget cost that most municipalities have seen over the last number of years.

Lucy Ann: Do those employees pay into their health care?

Harshberger: I do not believe that they do.

Grewal: I think a good point to make here is that with this 1.95 what we are trying to do is keep the jobs we currently have in our public safety and administration alive and well for the next 10 years. What this does is not promise that the public safety or administrative personnel or all unions are not going to have to come back to the bargaining table and negotiate with us when it comes to fringes and health care benefits because like Matt said those have been going up. So this 1.95 does not give us any padding to say, oh well now we can continue status quo, because we cannot. What we can do is ensure that we continue to have this level of jobs and personnel at the service of Pittsfield Township residents.

Lucy Ann: And then go back later and try to be able to realize some efficiencies with health care and pensions?

Grewal: Exactly, because what this 1.95 is not going to do is give us an open checkbook. It doesn’t build in a buffer that says we can continue to absorb costs that are going to go up for our personnel. What we can promise is that the wages and level of personnel, yes, we can keep, but we have to go back and negotiate with them when it comes to fringes and health care benefits. Like all public safety personnel and personnel in all walks of life that have to contribute and have to step up, that’s going to happen no matter what, whether the 1.95 goes through or not.

Lucy Ann: Tell us about your department right now, and how many staff are there and what would happen if this millage doesn’t go through, Matt.

Harshberger: We have 72 full-time employees -- that’s between police, we have 39 sworn police positions and we have one vacancy in the police department.

Lucy Ann: That vacancy is frozen, meaning you aren’t hiring it right now?

Harshberger: Correct. We also have 23 full-time firefighters and five paid on-call firefighters.  One of the fire positions is also vacant and frozen. We have 9 dispatch positions and that includes records clerks as well. One of those positions is vacant and frozen as well. We have support staff, and we also have a full-time support position that is vacant and frozen due to the budget concerns.

Lucy Ann: Is that enough right now to cover the wide area of Pittsfield Township?

Harshberger: We are providing a very good level of service, a high quality of level of service, right now to Pittsfield Township residents.  We want to maintain that, and the only way we’re going to maintain the current level of folks we have on hand  is to have this proposed millage go through.

Lucy Ann: And if it doesn’t go through? Then what?

Harshberger: Well, then we need to re-evaluate and determine what the acceptable level of services are and personnel, and that is going to be a township wide determination.

Grewal: With regard to the level of coverage here in Pittsfield Township, (there have been some) folks who seem to think that most of our police force and fire resources are used predominantly on the east side of the township.  That is not true. I think what we have showcased over and over again is because we are one of the safest and most livable communities in Washtenaw County we’ve managed to attract a very vibrant commercial tax base.  A lot of our public safety resources are used to ensure that retail theft and fraud are prevented, which is why we were able to reduce our crime rate by 18 percent in the last two years. Our public safety resources are very equally spread throughout the township. While the west side may not be seeing the (specific crimes) the east side is seeing, they do reap the benefits of being able to pick up the phone and report a suspicious vehicle patrolling their neighborhood and  get a cop there in less than 5 minutes.  They get that.

Lucy Ann: Obviously public safety affects all of us, but I have heard that same sentiment and I’m glad you brought that up, Mandy.  There are some people who feel that they are subsidizing higher crime areas, but Mandy says that is not true.

Harshberger: Right. This is a township wide effort and it’s services we provide township wide to all of our residents no matter where you live in the township.

Lucy Ann: How many people can you cut and still maintain service, or can’t you? Service would go down?

Harshberger:  Yes, it would.  Anytime we have a reduction in personnel we have to look at our services and what services we can maintain at its current level. When we look at the budget cuts that we would probably see if the millage doesn’t pass, it would result in a reduction of service levels which means a reduction of personnel.

Grewal: And when we talk about those reductions I want to expand the dialogue a little bit more beyond public safety, because public safety comprises a dominant portion of what we use our general fund for. Pittsfield Township residents currently can walk into Township Hall anytime between 8-4 and do whatever they need to do to take care of business. We have an outstanding Parks and Recreation program. We have a number and variety of services.  Well, it’s all going to be on the table. It’s not just public safety. We are talking about cuts across the board. Yes, we cannot do it without cuts in public safety but that doesn’t mean the rest of the general fund departments are not going to be part of those cuts. We are going to have to look wherever we need to look to make those deep cuts, and that is going to put us really in the same ballpark as the rest of the communities around here with folks laying off people left, right and center, and that would be Pittsfield Township if we don’t get this thing passed. What we are really requesting of voters is to help us decide if we want to keep these level of services, whether it be in our assessing department, the level of customer service at our administrative level, the public safety services- it is all kind of bundled together - they need to decide and we will follow their lead.

Lucy Ann: Matt, put it in terms that a typical resident can understand -- response time. Right now, what is it for a fire or police call, and what would it go to if you didn’t have the funds?

Harshberger: Well, currently we have the fortunate opportunity to have a police officer or firefighter on any scene in the township in under 6 minutes, which is one of the best response times in the county.  Unfortunately, if we get into a situation where we have to re-evalute service levels, that probably would equate to an increase in response time. It would depend on where the cuts take place and what service levels we are able to provide with those cuts. That would have a direct impact on response times, so you would have an increase.

Lucy Ann: What about doing more collaboration with other departments in the Washtenaw region and realizing some cost efficiencies that way?

Harshberger: By all means. We are always trying to talk to our neighbors and find ways we can collaborate to save on costs and service levels that we can provide collectively together. So definitely an opportunity we are looking at exploring.

Lucy Ann: Mandy, what does this mean for a typical homeowner of a $100,000 in Pittsfield Township?

Grewal: On average it is going to cost a Pittsfield Township taxpayer 54 cents a day.

Lucy Ann: Which is $16 dollars or so a month?

Grewal: That is correct.

Lucy Ann: And it’s currently over $8 a month.

Grewal: It is definitely an increase. We are not beating around the bush. It is definitely an increase. But voters have to decide if it is worth 54 cents a day to be able to retain that piece of mind - to be able to shop wherever they want, whenever they want, to be able to walk their dog, to live a very safe and healthy lifestyle in Pittsfield Township. And we will do our best.  Our commitment to the voters, to the residents and the businesses is if this millage will go through we will see a bettering of our public safety scenario in the next ten years here in Pittsfield, which is going to make us even more livable, attract more businesses and make us a much more vibrant community than we are today.

Lucy Ann: This is the reality of today’s economy.

Grewal: But we are very proud of our community. I think Pittsfield Township is very fortunate to be where we are and who we are, and I have full faith in our residents and voters. We will go with them were they take us.

Harshberger: Absolutely.

Lucy Ann Lance is co-owner of Lance & Erskine Communications, which produces “The Lucy Ann Lance Business Insider” (M-F, 8 a.m.-11 a.m.) and “The Lucy Ann Lance Show” (Saturdays, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.) on 1290 WLBY.  The programs are live streamed at www.1290WLBY.com, and podcast on www.lucyannlance.com. The above interview is a condensed version of a longer conversation that is edited for print. The complete audio interview is posted on her website.