Wyandotte Residents Sound Off at Budget Forum

The has been working for nearly six weeks on a plan to curb an estimated $1.8 million deficit in Wyandotte’s 2011-12 budget.

On Wednesday, the 12-member volunteer committee listened to feedback and ideas from residents during a public forum held at the . About 40 people attended, including residents and city officials, such as Mayor Joseph Peterson and City Administrator Todd Drysdale.

Many residents who spoke at the meeting said they were concerned with the possibility of having police or fire protection cut in order to save money.

Kim Piesik said the city should not replace EMS-trained firefighters in order to contract the work to a private business. Those companies do not perform all necessary lifesaving techniques, such as accident victim extraction from a crushed vehicle, she said.

“I would be very disheartened if we did anything to eliminate any of our firefighters who provide our services in the city,” Piesik said.

Lynn Wojtala said she does not want to see the or cut or disappear for the sake of balancing the budget.

“The pride element in Wyandotte will only get worse if we lose those departments,” she said.

Wyandotte police Sgt. Val Zavala said he believes a money-saving solution for public safety departments, or other city departments, would be a Deferred Retirement Option Plan.

That system allows those with the most seniority to retire and collect a pension, he said. The city could then rehire the person at the same wage, but as a subcontractor. The city saves since it no longer has to pay for health benefits as those benefits are covered by the pension plan, he said.

“It enables the city to take advantage of the experience (and) the education of the senior employees,” Zavala said. 

Another issue raised was how the city continues to purchase property with the intent to sell it.

Richard Patrick said this is problematic as the city is losing tax revenue by owning it, as opposed to having another property owner paying taxes on it. He said negligent property owners should be found and forced to pay for the upkeep and taxes, instead of the city buying it.

In the current real estate market, Patrick said, it is very difficult to sell the property the city already owns.

“During this time of financial difficulty, we can no longer afford to take more houses off the tax roll,” Patrick said.

Richard Miller, a Wyandotte Cable TV volunteer and president of the Wyandotte Democratic Club, did not agree with Patrick’s assertion. He said a bigger tax base for the city can be built by eliminating older homes.

“If our city is to grow and to sustain itself and to bring in higher taxes in the future, we need to get the old housing out and bring in the new housing,” Miller said.

Budget committee chairman Ferd Keller said he believes the forum was beneficial to all.

“Information-wise it was good,” Keller said. “A lot of the comments fit in with what we’re doing.”

The committee will meet one last time at 5 p.m. Monday to finalize its report for the mayor and City Council. That meeting also is open to the public and will take place in the training room on the second floor of the .

The committee's full report will be made public once it's presented to city leaders.