This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

2013/14 Grosse Pointe Woods Budget Being Developed NOW! Get Involved!

2013/14 Grosse Pointe Woods Budget Being Developed NOW! Get Involved! The next Finance Committee meeting will take place on April 4, 7:30 p.m. at Grosse Pointe Woods City Hall.

Meeting twice in March, the Finance Committee of the Grosse Pointe Woods City Council has started to review and comment upon the preliminary budget figures proposed by administrative staff. Grosse Pointe Woods Truth has been there to listen and tape these meetings.

Last year residents overwhelmingly rejected a request to override the Headlee tax limitation. 61% of the voters refused to allow their elected officials to increase property taxes by close to 2 mills. Mayor Novitke believes voters just could not understand the need. Novite was quoted in the Jan 17, 2013 GP Times saying: "In all probability, that Headee override is going on the ballot in 2014."  This may explain why the Council recently approved an expiring labor contract for a period of one year rather than the usual three.

Councilman Michael Koester, however, got the message. He said voters didn’t want to raise their taxes and went on to suggest it would be disingenuous to
create a budget that did not keep expenditures in line with revenues. Councilman McConaghey believes residents don’t want to raise their taxes nor have their services reduced.

City Manager Fincham was asked to consider ways of reducing the preliminary budget by $600,000 and report back to the Finance Committee on March 25, 2013. After a week, he returned with some ideas meeting the target figure. By leaving vacant two positions slated for retirement (one in public works and one in
public safety) and privatizing EMS, $500,000 to $600,000 could be saved. The
Finance Committee has yet to see the details of the proposed budget and examine how many of the suggested $600,000 in cuts proposed last year by an ad hoc committee of concerned citizens were made. Many of those suggestions targeted City Hall operations and do not directly impact residential services.

While some local governments avoid televising meetings despite the available
technology, during these fiscally challenging times, we believe it’s important
to provide citizens the opportunity to see and hear what their elected officials are considering. We urge you to watch these discussions we will post, to become involved in this budget process, to ask questions and make recommendations.

Find out what's happening in Grosse Pointewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If you are able to attend, the next Finance Committee meeting will take place on April 4, 7:30 p.m. at Grosse Pointe Woods City Hall where specific budget detail will be discussed. Until Grosse Pointe Woods officials recognize the importance of allowing residents to see these proceedings and taking the initiative to televise them, we will continue taping and posting these proceedings, unedited.
If you have any questions or comments contact us at: grossepointewoodstruth@gmail.com

Videos can be viewed www.gpwtruth.com go to the YouTube tab

Find out what's happening in Grosse Pointewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?