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00SL2
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Looks like the Neighborhood Police millage will be allowed to expire, and an additional millage is proposed for "police services." This is not a renewal of neighborhood policing, and it's not going to help bring officers back.
Flint public safety millage, take 2: Officials consider putting tax increase on ballot
Published: Monday, January 17, 2011, 4:40 PM Updated: Monday, January 17, 2011, 5:30 PM
Kristin Longley | Flint Journal By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal
FLINT, Michigan — Mayor Dayne Walling is making a second attempt at putting public safety funding on the ballot.
This time, Walling wants to ask voters in May to consider two separate proposals: Continuing a 2-mill tax for police and adding a 2-mill tax to fund the city jail.
Each proposal is expected to generate about $2 million in the first year.
"It's important that our residents have a chance to vote on expanded funding for our public safety system," Walling said today.
However, he said that the approval of the taxes will not shield the police department from future layoffs or bring back laid off police officers.
The Flint City Council is expected to review the measures Wednesday. If they're approved, a final decision about placing the proposals on the May ballot wouldn't be made until the council meeting next week.
Walling said this latest approach is a compromise, since the council last month rejected his request to put a 6-mill public safety tax on the ballot that he said would have funded police, fire and the jail.
Some council members voted no because they said residents can't afford a tax increase.
Other council members said they might approve a more modest tax increase or a renewal of the city's current 2-mill police tax, which is set to expire this year and pays for 16 officers.
Walling said he hopes the council will approve the new proposals, since they give voters a "menu" of options for public safety funding.
If both are approved by the voters, the taxes would maintain the current police millage — which funds 16 of the city's 122 officers — and create a dedicated fund to operate the city jail, Walling said.
Officer Keith Speer, president of the Flint patrol officers' union, said he wouldn't support millage increases without "good, hard assurances" from the city that the money would be used for its stated purpose.
In general, however, Speer said reopening the city jail would have a positive effect on crime because it would allow officers to put someone in jail after an arrest — rather than the current practice of issuing the offender a ticket.
"It's not going to stop crime... but it definitely helps," Speer said. "We're not going to be making as many arrests though because we're shorthanded. It's like a catch-22."
The tax increase is part of Walling's plan to balance the city's finances. As property values have declined in recent years, so has property tax revenue to the city, officials said.
Walling said the proposal language, as with all millages, will be reviewed by the attorney general. He said they are worded specifically so the money can only be used for their intended purposes.
Walling has said it would cost about $1.5 million a year to operate the jail, which was built in 1967 and operated until 1987, when it closed because of budget problems.
Past administrations and city councils have tried to open the jail, only to close it a short while later. Under former Mayor Woodrow Stanley, it opened from 1999 to 2001, and under former Mayor Don Williamson, from 2007 to 2008.
Walling said a dedicated millage fund for the jail would allow it to stay open and viable, as opposed to past attempts to fund it out of the city's general operating fund.
The city council last year attempted to set aside funding to rent jail space elsewhere, but the administration decided against it, saying it would have cost the city in the long run, Walling said.
Here is the language of the two millage proposals, as submitted to the City Council:
* "Shall the Charter of the City of Flint be amended to authorize the city to levy an additional tax on real and personal property in an amount not-to-exceed two (2) mills for 6 (six) years, from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2017, for the sole purpose of providing police services? It is estimated that two (2) mills would raise approximately $2,104,000.00 in the first year."
* "Shall the Charter of the City of Flint be amended to authorize the city to levy an additional tax on real and personal property in an amount not-to-exceed two (2) mills for 6 (six) years, from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2017, for the sole purpose of paying for the operation of the city jail? It is estimated that two (2) mills would raise approximately $2,104,000.00 in the first year."
© 2011 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
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Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/01/public_safety_millage_take_2_f.html |
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Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:33 pm |
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Dave Starr
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| The "neighborhood policing" millage hasn't been used for that purpose in a long time. Some time ago on this forum, Josh Freeman stated that the millage money was just put in the general fund and used to fund the police department. |
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Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:33 pm |
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