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Politics & Government

Possible Ballot Proposals Discussed at First City Budget Session

The Dearborn City Council, mayor, department heads and constituents met Tuesday for the first of five sessions to discuss the three-year budget proposal.

The first City Council budget session was held Tuesday night at , and included an overview of the three-year proposed budget, as well as preliminary discussions of possible ballot initiatives voters might see in November.

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly’s budget proposal was given to City Council on April 15, but has since received no public discussion until Tuesday night’s meeting. At the meeting, Director of Finance James O’Conner went over the budget proposal with the council, department heads and members of the public–including the .

Mayor O’Reilly spoke candidly about the cuts, saying that he doesn’t want to sell facilities, but that he can only work with what’s on the table–not speculations of ways that the city can make money in the future, or options that need to be voted on.

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“We can only do this budget based on what we have control over,” he said. “We can’t mitigate a charter mandate–only the voters can. We can’t add additional revenue–only the voters can. So this budget had to reflect what we can do.”

Therefore, not factored into the budget proposal were the ideas of a possible millage hike, or a lowered minimum staffing requirement for the Dearborn Police Department. Both of those options, however, were discussed at length at the budget session.

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Minimum Staffing

When the issue of raising minimum staffing for Dearborn’s police department to 205 officers went before the voters and City Council in 2004, Mayor O’Reilly–who was then council president–opposed the measure, which ended up passing, bringing the staff number up from 190.

Since this year’s budget proposal was introduced a month ago, O’Reilly that he does not intend to use a ballot initiative to lower minimum staffing as a means to closing the budget deficit. His main reason, he said, is that he doesn’t think it’s realistic to ask residents to vote to have less police in the city.

Council President Tom Tafelski and member David Bazzy, however, suggested Tuesday that it’s an option worth looking into.

“If we need 190 police officers and that’s what we need to fundamentally operate, shouldn’t we get that number in front of voters … and decide that’s the number we need?” Bazzy asked.

“Maybe that’s an option to go to the ballot,” Tafelski added. “That’s all I’m saying.”

O’Reilly said it’s not out of the question, but the challenge is convincing voters that it’s the right choice.

“You’re asking the voters to select between the police and the city in some fashion,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a good format, in my mind, to settle a problem.”

Moreover, O’Reilly added, he doesn’t want to focus on lowering minimum staffing as the issue at hand.

“The problem is the structural deficit–it’s not minimum staffing,” he said. “So the real key is, how do we get to that place where our expenditures align with our revenue and we can go on from year to year in a predictable way. That’s what we’re trying to get to by 2014.”

Millage Hike

O’Reilly has heavily touted the option of a voter-approved millage hike from 15 to 18 mills. Currently, the rate is at 13.62, but the budget proposal as it stands includes an increase to the voter-mandated maximum of 15. Anything beyond that would require a ballot measure, which O’Reilly is pushing to get on the November ballot.

A millage increase “would change everything if it passes,” O’Reilly said, “and depending on what we do.”

Millage increases could go toward specific services, such as the library or the police department, or they could offset other costs, thus leaving more for the general fund.

One of the best options, O’Reilly said, would be to pass a millage that would cover the retirement and pension costs of city employees. The amount would fluctuate from year to year and, he added, would likely be less of a burden after several years as fewer employees are on city retirement or pension plans.

“If you’re looking for the ideal solution, that’s it from an administrative point of view, but it’s the hardest sell in terms of voter approval,” O’Reilly explained. “Because essentially you’re asking voters to approve a millage that would pay for people who are going to retire or have already retired, as opposed to assuring a particular service.”

That millage, however, would free up general funds to be used to maintain other city services.

The overall goal, no matter how it is achieved, is clear.

“At the end of the day,” O’Reilly said, “what we’re looking for is in the neighborhood of $10-11 million of additional revenue.”

Upcoming Sessions

The date for a public hearing has not been set. However, upcoming budget sessions are open to the public as space permits for input.

Sessions will be held at City Hall at 6 p.m. May 12 in the City Council Conference Room, and at 5:30 p.m. on May 17, 18 and 19 in the Mayor's Conference Room.

The council will also hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. May 16 in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

Can't make it to a meeting? Stay with Dearborn Patch here at on Twitter for live tweets and coverage of each budget session.

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