Politics & Government

Wyandotte Millage Question is Now Up in the Air

The state Attorney General's Office said the Wyandotte City Council vote to put a millage before voters is invalid.

Two city council members will have the final say on whether Wyandotte residents will be allowed to decide if they want to pay higher taxes rather than see city services cut.

And one of them said Friday she has no intention of changing her previous vote, which blocks residents from having the right to decide.

to put a three-year, 3-mill tax hike before voters during a special Nov. 8 election due to the city’s estimated $1.4-million budget shortfall.

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However, the state Attorney General’s Office said the vote taken was invalid and will need to be voted on again.

At the time, the measure passed 4-2, with council members James DeSana and Sheri Sutherby-Fricke voting against it.

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State law says that a request for a ballot question must be approved by three-fifths of the council. Officials believed they had that when the measure passed 4-2 as there are six council members.

However, the state Attorney General’s Office has ruled that the mayor has to be counted as well, even though he only votes when there is a tie.

So now, the three-fifths threshold means that five votes are required to pass the measure.

Peterson said he’s hopeful that either DeSana or Sutherby-Fricke will change their minds and vote to let residents decide the matter in November.

“At the time we voted on the original resolution, some of you felt that not enough information had been provided with regard to the budget to vote in favor of the millage proposal,” Peterson wrote in a letter to city officials. “You all now have copies of the proposed budget and have listened to … I am requesting that city council vote again on the resolution for a city charter amendment for operating millage that would give the citizens the opportunity to vote on the millage proposal.”

Peterson has placed the item on the agenda for Monday night’s council meeting. He said time is of the essence as Aug. 30 is the deadline for a ballot proposal to be certified and sent to the county clerk’s office for the Nov. 8 election. In order to meet the Aug. 30 deadline, a city attorney said, the council has until Aug. 15 to vote and approve the measure.

Sutherby-Fricke said Friday she has no intention of changing her mind come Monday.

“My vote is not changing on Monday,” she said. “We’ve not completed our budget process and there are still lots of questions that are unanswered.”

Before Monday's 7 p.m. council meeting, there's a 5 p.m. budget session that likely will address the situation. Sutherby-Fricke said she's hopeful that it's "productive and not political."

"Engineering and (Department of Public Services) will be discussed at Monday's budget hearing and those are two pretty big departments," Sutherby-Fricke said. "There's a lot of information and questions we need to ask. ...

"As of now, do I support a millage? No, I don't. Will I at the end of the budget sessions? I can't say."

A voicemail left for DeSana was not returned before this story was published.


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