Perhaps the third time will be a charm for City of Wayne officials who approved a request for an additional 8-mill levy on the upcoming November ballot.
Voters have twice rejected the request to approve an additional 5-year, 8-mill levy, which would increase tax rates on property in the city by $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property valuation, usually about half the market value. The owner of a home with a State Equalized Value of $100,000 would see an $800 tax increase.
This effort follows a court ordered levy of 13.13999 on the winter tax bills in the city. The city was ordered to collect those funds as a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan (MERS). The pension system sued the city for a serious arrearage in contributions. The city opted not to defend that lawsuit, according to court records, which resulted in the court-ordered levy on every property owner in the city.
The latest effort to shore up the floundering city budget was approved by a 5-2 vote of the councilmembers during their regular meeting July 12. The tax was proposed as a way to fund, in part, the MERS pension obligation for retired employees. City officials claim that currently 40 percent of the annual city budget is used to fund pension payments to former public safety employees.
Council members Kelly Skiff and Phil Wagner cast the no votes on placing the millage question on the ballot again. Wagner said he understood the necessity for the ballot question, but that he had "a problem with voting for any new taxes." Skiff also voted against the ballot question when it was previously proposed.
Several residents in the audience at the meeting repeatedly criticized the effort to increase property tax and claimed that the city was already taxing residents at the highest rate allowed by state law. Criticism of the officials and the proposed tax became so adversarial that Mayor John Rhaesa called a recess and left the council chambers.
