By Megan Kelley
Review Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council unanimously approved a policy brought forward from village Manager Darwin McClary on waiving fees and charges for programs or services within the village.
The policy would only allow village fees and charges to be waived for other governmental or public entities provided that the entities either provide a program or service within the village for which a fee or charge would normally be charged by the village; fund the program or service through property or other taxes levied and collected by the entity; or the program or service is made open and available to the general public without entry or participation fee.
“The proposed policy is necessary due to the number of requests that we receive to waive water and sewer, permit application and other fees and charges,” McClary said. “Previous managers have used their discretion in waiving or reducing or forgiving fees and charges. My position is that I do not have the authority to do so.”
McClary expressed concern that waiving village fees and charges for private individuals could violate the law.
“The waiving of fees and charges for private individuals or entities, when consideration is not given to the public generally, may be a conversion of public resources for private benefit and would not be permitted under law,” McClary said.
Councilmember Ken Van Portfliet asked McClary how this policy would impact non-profit organizations in terms of who, or what, is considered the “private benefit” for such organizations.
“If you waive a fee for a non-profit organization, what you’re doing is you are having the public entity assume the cost of that private organization,” McClary said. “Let’s say they’re applying for a permit and we have to undertake the work to review that permit. Basically, what you’re doing is you are absorbing the cost of staff resources, any of the other resources that we use to review and approve that permit. You’re having the public entity absorb those costs, which is a benefit, a financial benefit to that private entity.”
Van Portfliet added that he was conflicted with the policy due to the fact that several “private entities” such as the Lake Orion Lions Club and the Lake Orion Sunrise Rotary give so much back to the community. Despite this, McClary maintained that continuing to waive fees just because of that is a slippery slope.
“The reason why this becomes problematic is, there are many organizations that we cherish, we appreciate the work that they do, but where do you draw the line? We may have an organization that maybe doesn’t share the values of the community or shares the values of the elected officials. If you’re going to waive fees for one private entity you have to be willing to waive them for everyone,” McClary said. “This policy will set the bar so that we are only waiving fees for other governmental units and it takes us out of the realm of making decisions on waiving fees for any private entity because there will always be someone who will argue with you that you’re not being fair, uniform and consistent in what you do when you start allocating to whom you waive these fees. I think it’s a bad practice. I think we should not be in that practice.”
Council President Jerry Narsh agreed that the previous practice of waiving fees is a slippery slope while also stating that he agreed with Van Portfliet because of the nature of some of the “private entities” that would need to pay the fees with this policy in place.
Narsh added that the fees were not exorbitant fees and that he himself, as a resident and member of the community, has paid fees for entities that raised concerns about fees they were being charged.
“Is there someone who would be willing to donate that fee? Because this village is incurring costs and we are having staff do time. It is a slippery slope and with government, so often it is,” Narsh said. “I say this to everyone who is listening: if you allow for one, you allow for all. We can’t close down public parking in one section and not do it for another business, that kind of stuff.”
“Please don’t not come forward and want to do something in the village. Look at someone and ask for a sponsor if the fees are burdensome. I think you might find a lot of people could be a sponsor, maybe even someone up here (on the council),” Narsh said.