keep ypsi rollin’
AY PAC asks voters to support and pass Headlee Override Amendment
In September 2009, a resolution added to the agenda by Council Member Pete Murdock obligated the City to funding of AATA through revenue generated by an additional millage requiring a Headlee override.*
Now Ypsilanti City Council, has passed a resolution putting a ballot proposal for this Headlee override request and a charter amendment to the voters on the August primary election. If passed, Ypsilanti will have dedicated funds for public transit needs which currently consist of AATA local bus service costs.
In short, if passed, homeowners taxes will go up .9 mils, or about 1.5%. In actuality however, most homeowners taxes are going down an average of 10% due to lowered property values. If the Headlee amendment passes, most would realize a net decrease of about 8.5%.
As this ballot proposal resolution was supported by the entire City Council, the vote to bring it to the voters was unanimous. Murdock initiated the amendment and had suggested that increased revenues would become necessary as long as a year ago. Mayor Schreiber also supports this and did so at the meeting with both his comments and his vote.
The concern AY PAC has is getting the voters to pass this. In this heavily anti-tax environment, any tax increase needs a strong campaign for it to pass.
While Murdock initiated the process to put it to the voters, he timed it so that his campaign for mayor is occurring at the same time. He will be busy as that race will be hotly contested. Will Murdock champion it with the voters? Pete is a seasoned campaigner, so if he does champion this tax increase, AY PAC is sure it will pass.
AY PAC joins the Mayor and Council in encouraging all voters to support this proposal on the August ballot. Let’s ensure that we pass the Headlee Override Amendment.
* Council Resolution 2009-193 (9/8/2009) – ”And Further Resolved that lacking any progress on the establishment of a regional transit authority and the accompanying scheduling of an election, the City Council will place on the November 2010 general election ballot a Headlee Rollback proposal that captures and designates the increased revenues solely for funding public transportation.” [Note that the proposal will actually appear on the August 3rd primary election ballot.]
posted by B. Bashert
single bullet theory
It’s Complicated: Debunking the Silver Bullet
Let’s be clear. No one issue has caused the current economic crisis the city is facing. Thus, no one thing will solve all the problems. It would be so much easier for everyone if folks could look at one item and say ‘if only that one thing hadn’t happened’, or something along those lines.
Causes:
Water Street did not cause our current economic crisis. It is costing us money, there is no doubt. However, it is not the root cause of our situation. The housing bubble crash, along with the auto industry downturn, plus loss of thousands of jobs in the region had a hand in the whole mess.
The biggest challenges Ypsilanti faces, along with those facing many other towns and cities in Michigan, come from the state itself. Many sources of state funding have been either cut off, or so depleted that the very foundation of financing our city has to change or adapt. State money may come back – someday. Until then folks, individually and regionally, we are on our own.
Cures:
If the City Income Tax had passed, we would be in a better situation than we are today. We would have income coming from Eastern Michigan employees that we are not able to garner right now, and that 30% of real estate that pays no taxes would now be helping us out, for instance.
No one cure will solve all our problems. Even if the income tax had passed, the world would not be perfect, the city would not be wealthy, and these would still be challenging times.
Single Bullet Theory (Our Prognosis):
Blaming Water Street for all ills does nothing but lay groundwork for upcoming campaigns and distract from the complex issues that surround us. That is the only reason to bring it up. Otherwise, instead of blaming, council would have taken up the Planning Commission’s recommendations for Water Street and begun moving forward on finding developers.
When any authority (especially a politician) offers you an easy sound-bite answer, you can bet your money you are being patronized and manipulated.
AYPAC encourages voters to contact their city council members and ask the hard questions:
- Why are we cutting police and fire when we were previously promised that these were not at risk?
- Why are we still waiting for the Water Street closed committee to take up the Planning Commissions recommendations?
- Why did we commit to a property tax increase as part of a proposal to temporarily save public transit, but turned down an income tax proposal that would have solved many at risk programs?
Lastly, listen carefully to what your council members are saying. If they have a pat answer to this incredibly complex situation we find ourselves in that sounds easy….if it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true. Single causes and single solutions are like firing blanks. Hardly the ammunition we need to fight the challenges Ypsilanti continues to face.
posted by B. Bashert and J. Gawlas
Transparency Rating (1) - 25%