Berkley Advisory Panel to Examine Possible Headlee Override

Any armchair cosmologists attending Monday night’s meeting could lay claim to witnessing the birth of a new star, or in this case a potential millage increase, after the motion to develop a Headlee Override proposal unanimously passed.

The Headlee amendment, approved by Michigan voters in 1978, spells out various restrictions that Lansing and local municipalities must adhere to regarding tax policy, one of which includes the prohibition by local governments to add new taxes — or increase existing ones — without securing voter consent.

Of course, the only reason a Headlee override amendment would be put forth to Berkley voters — as soon as this August if a proposal should come to pass — is due to the city’s cost of business exceeding its revenues.

During an impassioned unveiling of the motion, Berkley Mayor Phil O’Dwyer painted a picture of potential cash shortfalls or a forced reduction of city services, without specifically predicting either would happen, if a millage increase failed to pass.

“The first step for the future finances of the city should begin with bringing together a citizens advisory committee,” O’Dwyer said, explaining the path to which the city embarks upon in considering a property tax increase.

The advisory panel, whose citizen members would be appointed by city council and the mayor, would learn first hand what the state of the city’s finances are — and then weigh in on its spending priorities for the next budget year.

“The purpose of this committee is for members of our community, the stakeholders in our city, to come together and spend some time understanding the financial picture we have today,” O'Dwyer explained,  “and offering us some guidance on how we go forward.”

O’Dwyer proposed that each council member appoint two constituents to the committee and the mayor would appoint three members, giving it a total of 15 members — an odd number that would help avoid a tie should any nonbinding votes be necessary.

While short on specifics, O’Dwyer explained committee members would determine what timelines to set forth, if any, in deciding whether to recommend a property tax increase. May 29 is the deadline for the city to submit the language to appear on the August primary ballot, according to the Michigan Secretary of State website.

In convening a citizen-led panel examining the issues, the city is attempting to avoid the divisiveness that befell Berkley's 2010 school bond initiative. Citing the need for transparency in the process, Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Terbrack verified that all advisory meetings would be subject to the state’s open meeting laws.

City Manager Jane Bais-DiSessa also told council that the finance department would make seemingly all budget information available on the city’s website, and that information would be clear and understandable by the public.

Explaining the need for the committee in more plain-spoken language, Terbrack said that over the course of the last several years, the city has worked hard and discreetly to shore up potential budget deficits through cost-cutting measures that have mainly impacted city workers.

“Over the past four years I’ve been on council, especially since ’09-’10, we have been losing money left and right,” Terback said, attributing the decline in revenue mainly to a reduction in residential home values over several years.

“Year after year, we made deep cuts that none of the residents saw,” Terbrack explained. “City unions took massive concessions; we’ve cut a ton of our departments to the bone and we can't cut any more without citizens noticing. We need to ease our budget constraints.”

Noting that Berkley has demurred from any ancillary millage request while other communities throughout the region have not, Terbrack said that ultimately, “if the residents are totally against it, then we won’t do it."