By TEREASA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – Residents passed a 3 mill increase that will help ensure the city maintains a balanced budget and eliminate the need for cuts in city services over the next five years.
Twelve percent of the city’s registered voters turned out Tuesday to approve the millage for the next five years, passing it 1,589 to 759. According to the proposal, approximately $1,112,000 will be levied this year.
City Administrator Todd Drysdale said to eliminate the projected 2016-17 budget shortfall, the city would need a 20 percent increase in its tax base at the current 12 mills, or consider increasing the rate by 3 mills.
Before the election, Mayor Joseph Peterson said the budget proposal was designed to provide services residents expect without any layoffs.
Without the passage, Wyandotte faced seven-digit shortfalls within the next four years, Drysdale said. But the millage passage can now slash that number by about $600,000 to $700,000.