Comments
Woods budget online: Whoop! There it is!
Submitted by Pete Waldmeir on Fri, 05/18/2012 - 15:20.
It's a miracle! The Grosse Pointe Woods 2012-2013 budget, which city Comptroller/Treasurer Dee Ann Irby said couldn't possibly be posted on the city's website because the document "is about four inches thick" miraculously has appeared on the city's website! Of course, Woods Mayor Bob Novitke only permitted Irby to post it after a couple of Woods' citizens who oppose the upcoming Headlee Override tax increase vote on the Nov. 7 ballot went to city hall, scanned the document in about an hour with their own hand-held equiptment - and posted it on their groups' own web page. However, the city administration has made it so difficult to find on their webpage that you need your own Geek Squad to dig it out. So much for voluntary transparency from this Woods' council and administration. And they want us voluntarily to raise our taxes more than $1.2 million a year for a ton of years to bailout a budget deficit they created and could erase by cutting out frills and exercising better management?
Comments
Grosse Pointe Woods Headlee override
Submitted by Pete Waldmeir on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 16:34.
It's a real stretch to call a 1.9 mill tax increase to pay for for $10 million in road construction bonds, plus an additional 1.85 mills for a Headlee Override that goes straight to the general fund, "alternatives to a millage boost." Those two total 3.75 mills - which will put the Grosse Pointe Woods taxpayers well over the Headlee cap, no matter how you tally it up. We do need money for roads, and $10 million in road construction bonds may be acceptable. But the Woods council never would have "bifurcated" (love that word) their proposal if we three veteran former council members (Joe Sucher, Lisa Pinkos Howle and me) hadn't put the screws to them publicly, demanding it. And they still want a Headlee override of 1.85 mills, which will raise Woods' residents' taxes an extra $185 for every $100,000 of their property's taxable value? So tell me again: How's a 3.75 mill tax increase an acceptable "alternative" to the proposed original 3.60 "millage boost." Incidentally, I learned something long ago about sunset provisions: Local tax levies are like the old British Empire. The sun never sets on them.
Comments
GPWoods seniors May events
Submitted by Pete Waldmeir on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 12:15.
On the subject of May activities, Grosse Pointe Woods' seniors also would be wise to attend their city's council meetings Monday, May 7, and Monday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. where the Woods' upcoming new budget will be discussed at length. There's no admission, except for the thousands of dollars in real estate taxes and fees you already pay each year. Seniors living on fixed incomes should be especially interested in how the 2012-2013 city budget, which likely will be more than $32 million, is to be implemented by more than $1.2 million a year of their tax money if Mayor Robert Novitke and his six council cronies succeed in placing a Headlee override blank check proposal on the November presidential ballot. Seniors should be sure to ask for instructions on how to obtain absentee ballots so their votes can be counted.
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Comments
Woods council approves budget; tax increase fight next
Good job, Tonya! Played it right down the line. Can't ask for more than that. Keep up the good work.