The good news is Addison Township is going to save approximately $49,750 next year.
The bad news is the government won’t be funding a number of local services that directly impact residents? lives.
Addison’s board of trustees voted unanimously Aug. 25 to eliminate funding to the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA), Polly Ann Trail, Oxford-Addison Youth Assistance, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency (OLHSA) and the township’s portion of the road chloriding program, which controls dust on local dirt roads.
‘I still believe in all these programs, but we have to cut somewhere and those are optional,? said Addison Supervisor Bob Koski. ‘These are the only things we have a choice in.?
Officials also voted to begin charging residents who participate in the annual spring cleanup $25 per vehicle to offset the estimated $6,000 budgeted for this event.
The actual cuts will take effect April 1 for the 2006-07 fiscal year. Officials are ‘hoping? they will only be temporary.
Based on 2005-06 budget figures, Addison will not be contributing its $26,000 to NOTA; $9,250 to the Polly Ann Trail; $5,000 to Youth Assistance; $8,000 for road chloriding and $1,500 for OLHSA.
‘These areas are the only areas of discretionary spending that are of any dollar value at all,? said Treasurer Dan Alberty explaining why these services were singled out for elimination. ‘These are the only areas of discretionary spending that we have that are of any significance.?
‘To be very truthful with you, we just don’t have much discretionary spending in the budget,? Alberty said. ‘We cut it at the beginning of this year already.?
In addition to these recent cuts, the township has already implemented roughly $39,000 worth of savings measures ranging from negotiating better electricity and phone rates ($5,000) to hiring a less expensive auditing firm ($10,000) to not replacing the building department’s clerk ($15,000).
Koski noted the township also renegotiated the fees it pays its planner and attorney to include a 5 percent cut.
Dwindling state revenue sharing over the last few years coupled with rising costs and a failed request for a millage increase in May were cited by officials as the primary reasons for the cuts.
The township has suffered about $341,533 in state revenue sharing cuts over the last three years going from $570,079 in 2001-02 to $432,751 in 2004-05.
Property taxes have failed to make up for this loss as evidenced by the fact that Addison collected only $3,000 in additional property tax revenue in 2004-05 and will collect an additional $12,000 to $17,000 in 2005-06, Alberty said.
Rising expenditures such as employee health insurance benefits and township legal bills have not helped the situation.
In 2004-05, the township spent $276,000 in legal fees to defend itself against lawsuits filed by developers and CMS Gas. Developers have filed lawsuits because they were denied requests for high density development due to Addison’s lack of infrastructure and desire to maintain a rural atmosphere by requiring larger lot sizes and low density.
To bolster the township’s financial situation, officials asked voters in May to approve a 0.3164-mill increase to the operating tax, which would have reset it back to the 1.41-mill rate voters originally approved in August 1978.
However, voters soundly rejected the request 615-281.
Koski noted that if voters had approved the May millage request, it would have generated $91,758 for the township next year and these most recent cuts (totalling $49,750) would not have been necessary.
‘I hate to say so, but it really is true,? the supervisor said. ‘We wouldn’t have had to cut these areas.?
‘That’s 100 percent true,? Alberty said.
In order to make these cuts a temporary, one-year thing, Addison officials are considering placing a millage request on the August 2006 ballot, however the board has not discussed the various tax options voters could be asked to approve. Proposed millage options include requests seeking 1-mill, 0.50-mill or 0.30-mill.
If voters approve a millage hike next year, Alberty said, ‘We will be able to restore all of these (programs). Even the one-third (of a mill) would basically restore this. We wouldn’t be able add additional money to parks or roads, but at least it would restore the (eliminated programs).?
Reactions from organizations directly affected by these latest cuts were mixed.
‘I’m sure we will survive,? said NOTA Director Pat Fitchena. ‘I will have to go beat the bushes somewhere else to try to raise the funding.?
What upsets Fitchena is the possible loss of transportation for Addison seniors ? even if it’s only for one year ? to things like dialysis and doctor’s appointments or daily trips to the senior center, which ‘for many people, that’s their whole social life.?
‘That’s what bothers me is the impact on the people, more so than the dollars.?
According to NOTA’s figures, the local transportation service provided 1,591 rides last year for Addison residents and 1,166 of those trips were for senior citizens. In August 2005 alone, NOTA provided 210 rides for Addison residents, all of which were seniors.
‘Out in Addison there is no other public transportation of any kind,? Fitchena said. ‘Addison’s a growing community. They’ve got to realize that some of these services are desperately needed.?
She said NOTA is particularly vital for seniors who need a ride to the grocery store. ‘It’s so rural there, the stores are not on every corner,? Fitchena said. ‘If you need a gallon of milk, you’ve got to travel a ways. We bring many of those people into Oxford to shop for groceries.?
Fitchena wished it noted that she is ‘very sympathetic? to Addison’s budgetary situation. ‘I knew, financially, they were having some problems,? she said.
Fitchena’s sorry to see Addison have to cut its NOTA funding. ‘They were in the trenches with us from the very beginning, when it was the Oxford-Addison Transportation Authority (NOTA’s predecessor),? she said. ‘They’ve been genuine partners all the way through this thing.?
How this funding cut affects Addison’s involvement in NOTA and its residents ability to ride the vans and buses remains to be seen. Fitchena said the NOTA board will have to review the intergovernmental agreement and discuss the situation.
As for Youth Assistance, which provides social services to at-risk youth and their families, Caseworker Hank Szlenkier said, ‘I can’t speak for our board of directors . . . but as a caseworker, I know that $5,000 is about a (quarter) of our administrative income and that’s really going to put a crimp in our budget.?
‘We will continue to provide services for the families in Addison and Oxford, it’s just we will have to cut administrative costs,? Szlenkier said. ‘I don’t know what that’s going to mean ? I hope it doesn’t mean cutting our secretary.?
‘Our budget, like most budgets, personnel is the biggest item and I’m hoping we can cut supplies, postage expenditures, telephone bills, etc., but you can only cut so much there.? Szlenkier noted the secretary only receives wages, no benefits.
The bottom-line to Szlenkier ? who can only speak for himself, not the OAYA board or Oakland County ? is making sure any child or family who resides in the Oxford school district can still come to Youth Assistance if they need help.
‘Our mission statement is to provide services for kids who go to our school district,? he said. ‘I don’t think in the history of Youth Assistance when similar situations have occurred we’ve ever denied service. And this (funding cuts) has occurred throughout our 51-year history. When there were penny-pinching times because of a bad economy or what have you, adjustments had to be made, but never at the expense of the children.?
Szlenkier was also sympathetic to Addison’s plight.
‘It’s got to be a tough decision. What do you do when the voters say ‘no increase in funds?? You have to make cuts somewhere. Unfortunately, we’re cut, but so are the other entities. Certainly every one of those would argue theirs is needier than the other and I’m sure I could make a case too. But sometimes you have to make tough decisions. Cutting them all was probably the safest thing for them to do.?
Eugene Mallia, Jr., chairman of the Polly Ann Trailway Management Council, said Addison’s decision to cut its funding ‘will be a burden on us.?
‘We run a real, real tight budget,? Mallia said. ‘It’s not going to affect any of the projects we have going now because I believe they’re (Addison) paid up for the year.?
The money Addison contributes to the trail council helps pay the trail manager’s salary, provides ‘seed money for special events,? and helps pay for general trail maintenance, according to Mallia.
Even without Addison’s funds, the trail council will still be responsible for maintaining the township’s portion of the trail, ‘which is a large section of property,? Mallia said. ‘We will work diligently to keep that going and of course, the maintenance will be done. We’ll find a way as we always do through donations or whatever.?
Mallia is sorry to see Addison go as a partner in the trail.
‘Going forward, I’m rather disappointed to see them pull out because quite honestly this (the trail’s development) is something they’ve worked on (for years) Basically, it started in their neck of the woods,? Mallia explained. ‘They’ve been a big part of this whole project since Day One.?
‘As a taxpayer, as chairperson of the Polly Ann Trail, we’re disappointed to see them go since they have put in so much hard work and due diligence on getting this trail up and running.?
Interestingly, Mallia said he’s ‘more disappointed in (Addison) dropping NOTA than I am anything else.?
‘As a person who’s affiliated with NOTA, I am very disappointed because quite honestly our tax base is high,? he said. ‘We pay a fair amount of property taxes out there. I believe it’s just something that should be there and always should be there for our seniors.?
Mallia said Addison’s NOTA cut is ‘kind of leaving our seniors in a lurch out there.?
Mallia was not as sympathetic as others to the township’s financial plight and questioned these cuts in light of Addison’s legal bills. ‘With a legal bill I’m sure that exceeds $200,000-some a year ? I would have to question that as a taxpayer straight up,? he said. ‘What are we doing with the attorneys all the time where we can’t afford these types of programs that the people truly deserve??