City Council considers millage, fees to pay for road maintenance

With Michigan lawmakers on summer break and still no fix for the state’s roads, Tecumseh City Council made the first move to find ways to fix them.“Road funding is certainly not where it needs to be to support the amount of road work that is needed,” said Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch.At the Monday Tecumseh City Council meeting, council members discussed possibilities on how to address the city’s roads, which were presented at a May 12 study session of the 2014 Strategic Plan prior to the regular meeting that day.“I reviewed a strategic plan with you,” said Welch. “City council adopted that plan in concept and, obviously, I did mention that a number of strategies in that plan would need to come before you before we move forward. This is one section. This is probably the most difficult section, and potentially the most difficult decision you have to make in the next few months or whenever it is made, if at all.” The two possibilities the board discussed were a dedicated road millage and financing waste pickup through a millage or fee. The dedicated road millage would have to go to the ballot for a vote of the people, while a trash millage or fee —up to two mills — could be voted upon by council, according to Welch. In order to get a dedicated road millage on the ballot, the ballot language would have to be agreed upon by council and approved by the county by August 12.Welch said that he had no great confidence that a magic pot of money would appear from the state. A dedicated road millage would free up the current budget spent on roads from the general fund, but the money received through the millage could only be used for road improvements. A one-mill road millage would produce $240,000 in revenue and cost taxpayers with a house with a taxable value of $100,0000, which would mean the house was worth $200,000, $142 a year, according to Welch. With the millage, everyone would pay a slightly different amount depending on his or her property value. Council Member Laurance Van Alstine Jr. brought up concerns that the city must also address its public safety issue with overworked police officers and firefighters. “I think it is a danger to our community to have overworked, overtired, burned-out police officers on the street, said Van Alstine. “It’s inevitable that they will make mistakes and in law enforcement mistakes can be very very serious. We have to be responsible and be honest with the citizens and do something to enhance the funding that we are able to spend on roads and public safety. Those are my two priorities. I think everyone here would agree that those two things are important.”A trash millage or fee would go towards paying for waste pickup services and free up money from the general fund as well, allowing money to not only be allocated to road improvements, but other areas in the city as well. A trash fee would have the potential annual cost of $146 to residents and could generate revenue of $440,000. Financing the trash pickup could allow city council to have more control over where the funds are spent, not only using that money to fix roads, but also fund public safety.Council member Ron Wimple felt that the issue of road funding was at the state level. “The way I see it, the state continues to take away our funds and leaves us in a predicament that we have to defend for ourselves,” said Wimple. “I think the state is turning its back not only on Tecumseh, but all the communities in the state.”General consensus of the council was to seek further information about a dedicated road millage and ways to finance trash pickup. “I kind of agree with Kevin,” said council member Troy Wright. “I don’t know if we can go the state and get anywhere. We can tell them they’re doing something wrong, but I don’t know if people are going to vote in a millage either. Plus, I think people are used to paying for their trash pickup.”Mayor Richard Johnson agreed that something must be done, but entertained the idea that a road millage would better serve the community while keeping the trash millage or fee option for a later date. “I think we need to do something,” said Johnson. “I think that every person in the state of Michigan understands that the roads have deteriorated past the point that most people are comfortable driving on them. I would like to see us put together some sort of mil-and-a-half, two-mill road millage.”Welch and City Attorney Scott Baker will present the council with more details about the dedicated road millage and ways to finance waste pickup at the next council meeting July 7.