Would You Support a Millage to reopen the Flint City Jail? |
Yes |
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100% |
[ 3 ] |
No |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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Total Votes : 3 |
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Author
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Post |
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munnbreslin
F L I N T O I D
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As head of the finance committee, I was wondering what the chances of the Flint City Jail reopening are? I know that you are aware of the massive impact that this could have. The city jail seems like something that should be the absolute last thing to be cut in the city, and it seems illogical that it was closed in the first place. Are there any federal grants or programs to fund it? Could the city cut pay of all non-union employees to cover the costs or possibly put a millage out to the residents to fund it? If the jail has a roughly $1.5 million operating budget annually, in a city with 100,000 people (although it would be best to plan for 90,000) a tax would only be about $17 per resident per year (at 90,000 people). If these taxes would be placed on homes separately, wouldn't it be about $30-$40 per home per year? I can guarantee that residents would support such a millage, and such a plan should be acted on. I pray that you and your fellow council people will look at reopening the jail. |
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Mon May 31, 2010 12:53 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Dump the Complete Towing deal & reopen the impound lot. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon May 31, 2010 4:41 pm |
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Pachuco
F L I N T O I D
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Didn't the city jail close less than a year after it's opening because the impound lot couldn't finance it?????? |
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Mon May 31, 2010 9:47 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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I would love to open the jail... but we need to find the money to operate it. The annual costs were in excess of $1 million.
When you look at the dramatically shrinking property values, high unemployment, and the rapid rate that residents are leaving the City, there just isn't enough money to go around.
The Council is looking at trimming every piece of fat in the budget that was proposed by the Mayor so that it can be applied to public safety. |
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Tue Jun 01, 2010 1:15 pm |
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munnbreslin
F L I N T O I D
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what about applying for grant dollars? The funds dont necessarily need to come from taxes. |
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Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:26 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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Councilman Weighill and I had some discussion about this and what is available from the Federal level with staff of Sen. Stabenow's office. For operating a jail, there doesn't seem to be much, if any, available. |
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Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:43 pm |
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munnbreslin
F L I N T O I D
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Well thats extremely unfortunate. Hopefully a millage could still be a viable option. It would be extremely low per home and could be successful if that cost is advertised right, much like the millage to fund the Detroit Zoo was a few years back. |
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Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:38 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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IMHO, I don't believe taxpayers would go for a raise in taxes unless police officers were to be called back AND the city jail were to be funded. It doesn't necessarily have to come from property taxes, how about increasing the city income tax? What is the maximum city income tax that could be charged, Josh? |
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Tue Jun 01, 2010 10:06 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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quote:
Pachuco schreef:
Didn't the city jail close less than a year after it's opening because the impound lot couldn't finance it??????
It was open longer than a year and Flint did too good of a job picking up abandoned cars. Now they are piling up again.
It was worthwhile as some types of criminals spread the word they could get away with some crimes, like prostitution, on the internet. That brought in groups from around the country. |
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Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:57 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Abandoned cars - there's one on our block, but it's only been there 2 or 3 years, so it's not a priority.
Josh - is there a breakdown anywhere on the cost or profit of the impound lot?
A large part of the problem is the fact that people arrested for anything besides murder are given appearance tickets & turned loose, because there's no place to lock them up. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:13 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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Revenue
Dept 305.206: Pol Tech Serv - City Impound
607.000 Fees 405,205.00
648.000 Scrap Sales 585.20
649.000 Auction Rev - Forfeited & Others 278,107.06
Total - Dept 305.206
683,897.26
Expenditure
Dept 305.206: Pol Tech Serv - City Impound
702.000 Wages & Salaries 49,347.94
709.000 Overtime 4,356.90
719.100 Direct Fringes 7,529.48
719.200 Other Fringes 11,510.80
720.000 Expense Allowances 400.00
726.000 Supplies 188.92
801.000 Professional Service 178,531.13
801.100 Professional Service-Bank Fees 1,544.07
850.000 Communications 136.00
900.000 Printing & Publishing 2,410.38
920.000 Utilities 9,125.06
930.000 Repairs And Maintenance 1,108.10
940.000 Rentals 16,000.00
956.000 Miscellaneous Expense 0.00
956.300 Litigations & Suits 0.00
Total - Dept 305.206
282,188.78
Kind of confusing with the format.. but I think you can make it out. |
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Thu Jun 03, 2010 9:09 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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So the city made about 400K from the impound lot. What does Complete cost us? |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:47 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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Those costs are included in the expenditures that I have there....
But you'll still need someone to tow the vehicles whether City has it's own yard or not.
Those numbers are YTD thru April. |
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Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:13 pm |
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