7/19/13 - The Brighton City Council moved a step closer Thursday night to asking the voters this fall for a Headlee override millage. Council discussed at length the need for a millage to address the problem of an aging and deteriorating infrastructure, particularly streets. Council says the city has been on an extremely tight budget for the last several years and simply doesnât have the money in the general fund to take care of needs such as streets, sidewalks, trash pickup and other city services. City Manager Dana Foster tells WHMI that council will decide at the next meeting on August 1 whether to go to the voters with a Headlee override request. Foster says under the scenario most likely to be approved by council, the millage, if approved by voters, would be increased incrementally until it reaches 17.2 mills. The four areas to be addressed would be elimination of the trash pickup user fee, infrastructure, public safety and city beautification, including improvements to Mill Pond Park. A decision soon on whether to proceed is necessary because the city would have to submit the ballot proposal to the county clerkâs office by August 27th in order to place the issue on the November election ballot. Last year the city presented a street millage proposal to the voters that would have replaced the street millage which expired last year, but it was defeated. Although that millage would not have increased city property ownersâ taxes, the one being discussed for the ballot this fall would increase taxes by two mills over the current 15.2 mills now levied, which is the Headlee limit. The Headlee Tax Limitation Amendment limits tax increases to 5% or the inflation rate â whichever is lower. (TT)
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