Grosse Pointe Woods Council Discusses Budget

After several meetings in which budget suggestions have been made and implemented into the budget, the Grosse Pointe Woods city council completed a section-by-section review of the proposed version Monday night.

Woods Comptroller/Treasurer Dee Ann Irby provided council members with a brief overview of the budget, highlighting some changes and some projections for future years based on the current financial situation.

The overall proposed 2013/14 fiscal year budget is a bit more than $32 million, which is approximately $1.2 million less than last year's budget, Irby said. It includes a 0.008 percent tax rate increase, which brings the total overall rate to the headlee override limit.

The rate will be 14.0492 mills.

In November, residents voted down two millage proposals that would have increased the rate beyond the headlee override limit. City council members have since been discussing ways to trim in the budget with a heavy focus on eliminating services to residents.

Ultimately, in this proposed budget the services that are being reduced are more behind-the-scenes, such as a reduction in the frequency of street sweeping from weekly to once every two weeks.

The budget, Irby said, also does not include some specific revenue the city anticipates receiving, such as tax refunds related to Michigan Tax Tribunal decisions. She is not accounting for them because it is not yet clear when those funds will be paid to the city, she said, noting it's about $150,000.

Additionally, the city should anticipate some revenue related to the Rivers project on Cook Road, she said. For this coming year, the revenue is likely to be about $50,000 based on construction permits and the taxes based on percent of project completed. Ultimately, the Rivers revenue potential for the city is about $250,000 annually but that won't be realized until the 2015/15 fiscal year, she said.

The budget, as proposed Monday, maintained a general fund balance that is 22 percent of the total budget, Irby said.

Councilman Michael Koester suggested Monday that the council do as the employees of the city have done and take a 9 to 10 percent pay cut. He said this would show support for the employees. He emphasized that doing so does not mean the council's time is not valuable it simply shows the council's willingness to also be subject to the same changes as it is imposing upon the employees.

His suggestion did not elicit any conversation or reaction from fellow council members. Former councilwoman Lisa Pinkos Howle suggested for years the council should eliminate its own pay as a cost saving measure but other membes were strongly opposed.

Another suggestion that arose during the discussion Monday was to have City Administrator Al Fincham research the possibility of hiring a part-time clerical employee to help in the buildind department to evaluate whether it would be financially feasible.

Koester also requested this after discussion about the lag time between the application for construction permits and their approval--a time delay councilawoman Vicki Granger said has potential to stop people from investing in their homes.

Koester said he wondered if by having the part-time person it could generate more revenue than it would cost by increasing the processing time and therefore making the city eligible for a higher taxable value on homes.

The budget must be approved by late June as it takes effect July 1. Monday's meeting was an informal meeting of the subcommittee that will then make a formal recommendation to the council. The council must vote upon the proposed budget in a formal council meeting.