Wayne mayor to ask state for financial emergency review
Christina Hall
Wayne Mayor Susan Rowe said today that she has asked the state treasurer's office for a formal financial emergency review after a proposal allowing the city to join a public safety authority failed at the polls.
When asked if she believed the city of 17,500 residents could be taken over by the state and have an emergency manager, Rowe said: "Yes, I do."
The City Council will hold an emergency meeting at 8 p.m. Thursday to look at recommendations from the city manager and to pare back the budget now that Wayne voters turned down the question in Tuesday's primary to join the authority, composed of Eastpointe and Hazel Park.
If the question had been approved by a majority of voters in all three cities – it passed in Hazel Park but not in Eastpointe –Wayne could have levied 14 mills for 18 years, generating $4.9 million for public safety in the first year.
But the question failed, having no impact on Hazel Park or Eastpointe, but major ramifications in Wayne.
If the millage failed, officials previously said, Wayne's general fund will be depleted in December 2017, and the city will enter a state of insolvency. It will be forced to lay off police and fire workers and outsource or eliminate services, such as those involving public works, buildings and engineering, officials said.
There was opposition to the question, known as Proposal S, in Wayne.
"We knew this was going to be a tough vote," Rowe said, but officials thought it might pass with just over 50%.
Instead, 62% of Wayne voters turned down joining the South Macomb Oakland Regional Services Authority.
"I think it is a combination of local and national politics," Rowe said. "People just seem very angry and upset with government. They are tired of spending, tired of what they think is no transparency. In my community, people are just tired of paying and not getting anything, they feel, with their buck."
Eastpointe and Hazel Park formed the unusual authority for 20 years last year. Officials said the idea is working through the implementation of a 14-mill property tax increase that was approved by voters in both cities as part of the creation of the authority. Eastpointe is out of financial distress and able to hire police and firefighters, and Hazel Park is maintaining fire and advanced life-support services and buying a new ambulance through the move.
Rowe hoped her city could join, saving it from running out of cash next year and being put into the hands of a state-appointed emergency manager.
If the ballot question was approved, the millage would have cost the average Wayne taxpayer an additional $354 on the winter tax bill, Rowe said. The city would have been able to maintain its own police and fire departments and add four police officers and three firefighters, shoring up public safety for future years.
Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.