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Zoner no pleased with no progress on 2013 budget
Motions involving two special assessment districts, an advance of funds for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and Library Bill of Rights are items the Commerce Township Board of Trustees were scheduled to consider at its meeting yesterday, Tuesday, Nov. 13 — but it’s what was missing from the agenda that concerned one township official.
“I know what’s not on the agenda — the (2013) budget isn’t on there yet,” said Commerce Township Supervisor Tom Zoner. “Four members of the Board voted not to approve a balanced budget at the last meeting. Because there isn’t anyone who voted for it, they can’t bring the budget back.”
The Commerce Township Board of Trustees rejected passing the 2013 Township Budget, with Zoner, Township Clerk Dan Munro and Treasurer Susan Gross voting to approve the 2013 Budget and Trustees Debra Kirkwood, David Law, Robert Long and Richard Sovel voting against.
Zoner said because he hasn’t received any suggestions by the board on what changes they wanted to see in the budget, he has yet to make any changes.
“They never said why (they voted against it),” Zoner said.
While Zoner did say board members expressed the desire to decrease some employee benefits that he recommended increasing, the change only applied to four employees.
“So I wasn’t going to support it,” he said.
Items included on the Nov. 13 agenda included an SAD to pay for additional dust control measures conducted by the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), which would raise the number of brine applications from four to five. A public hearing and motion to add about a dozen residences to the township’s water and sewer system was also set to be considered.
The board on Tuesday was set to consider a motion to approve allocating $150,000 to the DDA to allow the authority to meet obligations. Funds available for that allocation include the township Sinking Fund (with a $1.8 million balance); the Budget Stabilization Fund ($1.2 million available) and the township’s General Fund Balance ($4.8 million unallocated). Advances to the DDA of $850,000 were authorized in March and $1.3 million in August.
2 Responses to Zoner no pleased with no progress on 2013 budget
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Bob
November 15, 2012 at 5:07 am
Why is Zoner trying to increase employee benefits when the township is on the hook for two million per year for the M5 debacle? Hey Tom our taxes are too high already how about cutting government for once instead of trying to build your legacy? Are employees threatening to leave if their benefits aren’t increased?
AJ
November 15, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Bob,
There is no “M5 debacle” – and your repeated statement to that effect (in this and other comments you’ve made on numerous SCN articles) does not make it so.
When the economy recovers, the area will likely become built up with many new tax-paying businesses.
Also, Martin Parkway does a nice job of alleviating some of the gridlock on Haggerty Road, which was terrible.
Finally, the roundabouts they put in are much faster at moving traffic through the area (than the previous traffic signals) – especially the roundabout at M-5 and Pontiac Trail. Thus saving all of us commuters time and money we previously would have spent by sitting in slow and stopped traffic.