Bloomfield Township Budget and Over 167 Fleet Vehicles and 55 Pieces of Equipment

Hi All,
The next budget (2012-2013) will be before the the Board of Trustees in March 2012 for approval.  Before then, there will be a public hearing on the budget.  You will have only 3 minutes to voice your opinion or concerns. The time to start looking at the budget is now. The time to take your concerns to the Township is now. What line items concern you?  Supervisor, Leo Savoie, has often mentioned that his door is open for questions and conversations. The time to try to influence the Township as it relates to the budget is now.  Waiting for your 3 minutes at the public hearing may be too late.
 
I have been reviewing the budget as it relates to line item #978 "vehicle purchase".  I have written about the police vehicles and the fire department vehicles. The water/sewer/road departments have special equipment and vehicles that are needed for those jobs. There are also many other cars and pickup trucks, etc. owned by the Township for the many other departments. What is the Township policy for vehicle purchases? 

I've attended most of the Board of Trustees meetings since March 2010.  There have been some agenda items to approve special vehicles and pieces of equipment. However, I have not seen any proposed purchases of vehicles (ie: for the elected officials or the department heads) as an agenda item for discussion and vote by the Board of Trustees.  With the statistic of "over 167 fleet vehicles" in the Township along with "55 pieces of equipment", all vehicles should be put out for bids for the Township to get the best price.  Those bids should be presented at a public meeting and decisions made by the Board of Trustees.

Are there bids for the cars, pickup trucks, etc.  in the motor pool fleet?   I have not seen official minutes on the Township website for many motor pool vehicle purchases.  I do know for a fact that a local car dealership donated $30,000 to the SOS (Save Our Services) campaign.  SOS was formed to promote the YES  vote for a new ten year 1.3 mills tax that was on the ballot  February 2010.  Did the $30,000 donation by the dealership to the SOS campaign help secure a Township contract for the vehicles?  I don't know.  I don't know which dealership has ever been awarded vehicle contracts. There has not been open and transparent action taken at a public meeting of the Board of Trustees as to most of the purchases and costs of the over 167 Township fleet vehicles.  When have the purchase approvals been made and who made the decisions?

Should the taxpayers supply cars, either purchased or leased, for employees? If yes, which employees?  Do some employees have a vehicle 24/7?   The budget does not identify a vehicle(s) for each of the many central office departments as an expense. For instance, if the Supervisor has a vehicle 24/7 paid for by the taxpayers and serviced and fueled by the Township motor pool, should those expenses be budgeted to his/her department?  How many vehicles are available to each department?  How many employees are authorized to drive Township vehicles? How many employees have Township vehicles 24/7?  Could line item #978 "vehicle purchase" be an area for cost cutting in the next budget?

"Greater openness in government helps not only prevent corruption, but lays out exactly how public entities spend taxpayer dollars.”  anonymous  ......but does reflect my thoughts.....

FYI:
The Motor Pool division maintains the entire Bloomfield Township fleet except for contracted out repairs.  In the 2010 Annual Report for Public Works this division reports that there are:

• over 167 fleet vehicles
• 55 pieces of equipment
• used 90,000 - 100,000 gallons of unleaded fuel
• used 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel

Bloomfield Township is approximately 26 square miles. The 2010 Census reports a population of 41,070 people with 31,840 being of voting age.  There are 17,799 households (homes, apt., group homes, etc.) with 1333 of those households being vacant at the time of the census.


Somewhere I read or heard that the Township owned $14,000,000 in vehicles. The actual number would be an interesting statistic to know.

Police Department Vehicles and the Budget

Hi All,
The Township police department apparently has 8 vehicles on their lot that have never been used according to the City of Sylvan Lake website minutes from 8/25/11.  Those minutes indicate the Township vehicles were purchased to be used as "back-up" vehicles.  Perhaps the Township was anticipating contracting police and dispatch with Sylvan Lake?

Bloomfield Township Police Chief,  Kirt R. Bowden,  stated in his 2010 letter to the Board of Trustees in the Annual Report that:
"...the Bloomfield Township Police Department has made deep cuts as an organization..."

If that is true, why would there be 8 unused vehicles at the police department ?

The Bloomfield Township budget has a line item #978 that is described as "vehicle purchase". Here are the police budget figures:
2009-2010 @$229,080      2010-2011 @ $240,000     2011-2012  @  $240,000

Bloomfield Township government is not open and transparent.

I do not recall those vehicle purchases on any Township Board of Trustees agenda.
Over $700,000 has been given to a company(s) for the purchase of vehicles over the past three years. 
Where in the minutes of the Board of Trustees were these vehicle purchases/leases authorized?
Who were the companies that bid?
Where did the Township eventually buy or lease these vehicles? Where did the old vehicles go?
When did the purchases/leases occur?
Why were the purchases necessary (last vehicle old/poor repair/damaged, etc.) ?
What kind of vehicle was purchased/leased? 
How many vehicles were purchased/leased each year?

From the 2010 Annual Report for the Police Department I found the following statistics for the police vehicle fleet.

Vehicle Type # In Fleet
Police Patrol Units 20
Police Motorcycles 2
Animal Welfare Units 2
Identifications Van 1
Village Police Units 2
Unmarked Police Units 16
Other Utility Vehicles 4
Prisoner Transport Van 1
TOTAL 48

The police department budget does not indicate "deep cuts" as to vehicle purchases. The budget also shows the total expenditures of the police department to be over twelve million dollars a year.  That is true for all of the past three years.  If "deep cuts" are made, shouldn't the expenditures  go down each year?

The really "deep cuts" in the Township have been to your property's value. The Township is collecting less revenue. Well, they were, until the February 2010 millage vote,  where 1.3 mills was passed by a narrow margin. That millage was proposed so the Township could recover lost revenue due to the economy and falling property values and to maintain the current level of services.  That new 10 year tax is classified as general obligation, not public safety. That money may be spent in any department of the township. However, the approx.  4.4 million dollars collected each year on that 2010 tax levy has largely been transferred from the General Fund into the Public Safety Fund to maintain the necessary revenue to meet police, dispatch and fire department expenses.  Those public safety expenses have not gone down, but have remained fairly constant over the past three years.  So, where are the "deep cuts" in the budget?  Same revenue, same expenses....

The Township has been seeking revenue by going to the public for more taxes and looking outside our borders for added work.  It's time to start making "deep cuts" in all Township departments.  A hard look at line item #978: vehicle purchase, would be a great start.