Commerce board split on budget over wage issue

An article by Angela Niemi    1 Comment

The Commerce Township Board Trustees is at a bit of an impasse as the board looks to adopt the township’s 2012 budget.

So far, one presented spending plan has been voted down, while another was tabled at a meeting earlier this month.

The two budgets were similar, by and large, according to Commerce Township Clerk Dan Munro. The total revenue for Commerce was proposed at $5.22 million with total expenditures coming in at about $4.5 million, resulting in a spending plan that’s over $700,000 in the black for the next fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1, 2012.

While a large part of the expenditures are salaries and benefits, $2 million would have been allocated toward debt stabilization for Downtown Development Authority (DDA) bond payments for the Martin Parkway project.

“In 2012, the DDA is going to run out of money and be short on making their bond payment by about $1 million,” said Trustee Rick Sovell. “Because of that, the township will have to come up with the money to pay the shortfall. But we knew that was happening so we’ve been planning for it. We have the money, so it’s OK.”

Prior to a budget being presented to the township board for approval, the township’s governing body discussed reinstating pay rates from a few years back for the non-union employees that had taken a pay cut.

However, with another year of declining property values being projected for Oakland County, some board members felt it was not the time to reinstate previous wage levels.

“It was not that we felt the individuals affected did not deserve the raises, for each and every one of them are outstanding employees,” said Trustee Debra Kirkwood. “The timing is just not right to put this back in our budget.”

Nevertheless, the first budget presented to the board in October reflected the wage restorations and was defeated in a 4-3 vote, with Supervisor Tom Zoner, Treasurer Susan Gross, and Munro — the township’s three full-time elected officials — voting in favor of adoption.

“I just feel that with the tough economic times that people in Commerce Township and Michigan are going through, with many residents losing jobs or taking pay cuts, a budget proposing raises for employees is inappropriate right now and sends the wrong message,” said Trustee David Law.

“The trustees view the reinstated wages as a raise,” Sovell said. “I don’t think it’s the right time to give raises given the township’s declining revenues, the state of the economy, and that the township has to come up with funds to pay the DDA shortfall.”

However, Zoner said he doesn’t look at it as a wage increase.

“It’s a restoration of wages for people who took a wage decrease a few years ago,” Zoner said. “We have some people making less money now than when they first started working here.”

“What was proposed is not a wage increase,” Munro added. “It’s to return pay cuts that were taken from non-union employees back in 2008 and 2009. It’s just trying to take some folks that have taken a pay cut in 2008 and bringing them back to the level they were at before the pay freeze in 2008.”

The last proposed budget presented in November was tabled since some board members felt it was not detailed enough because there was no documentation showing each line item, according to Kirkwood.

“Without being allowed to review each line item, I would not vote to pass that budget,” she said.

Law said he also would have liked to have had a more detailed budget proposal to consider.

The 2012 budget has been tabled until the next township board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13.