Public Safety 2.5 Mills Renewal Vote To Be August 7, 2012

Hi All,
At the United Homeowners (UHOA) Annual meeting Jan. 18, 2012, Township Supervisor Savoie told the attendees that the township will put a Public Safety millage renewal on the August 7, 2012 ballot.

Savoie indicated that the amount will be 2.5 mills which represents between 8-9 million dollars. He indicated that should the proposal fail, the township would need to reduce the public safety department by about 80 people.


Questions about the above surprise announcement:

1. I have not seen or read about any public meeting of the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees that discussed publicly the above decision.  Question:  Has Mr. Savoie made this decision on his own, or have there been official township meetings to discuss this public safety millage that excluded the public?
2. How did Savoie and/or others determine the number of employees that would need to be eliminated?
3. Are there other items in the budget that could be cut to save employee jobs in the event the public says NO?
4. How does the 2012 expiring public safety millage affect the preliminary 2012-2013 budget at this time, especially during the time frame:  Jan. 2013- March 31, 2013?
5. What action has any employee of the township taken to date concerning the public safety millage expiration/renewal?
6. As a taxpayer, do you know how many DEDICATED millages  there are currently for public safety?  Answer,  4 , representing more than  7.5 mills.  Plus..see #7 and #8...
   
7. Do you know that 90% or so of the 1.3 mills GENERAL millage from Feb. 2010 ($4.4 million) is also going directly to public safety?
8. That TOTAL money to public safety is almost 9 mills...  A whopping $24,000,000 give or take for public safety expenditures for 16,466 households/ 41,070 residents ( 2010 Census).
9. What other millages do you pay? This 2008 financial data chart does NOT include the Feb. 2010 1.3 mills and NOT the recent costs for bonds issued for water/sewer.  Current figures should be provided. Other existing bond rates have already increased because of the declining property values.
10. For those Township residents living in the Bloomfield Hills School District, will there be another school bond added to your personal tax burden this year? 
11. The below list is only for our township, there are other taxes owed for schools, SMART, community colleges, etc.  More information on millage rate click here.