Hillsdale residents will decide on May 4 if the city will consolidate road construction funding and reinstitute the city leaf collection service through a 4.0 millage levy proposed by the City Council, according to City of Hillsdale.
If passed, the levy would provide 3.5 mills committed to paying for street reconstruction. It would appropriate 0.5 mills to reestablish the city’s former loose leaf curbside collection service beginning next fall. The 4.0 mills levy would replace the current 3.0 mills debt repayment fund for ten years, adding 1.0 mill of additional property taxation. Due to the Hillsdale City Charter limiting the total levy by the city to 20 mills, the city will no longer be able to levy property taxes for tax revenue.
A millage rate is a unit of taxation levied on a property’s value. The rate refers to the number of tax dollars assessed for each $1,000 of property value. In Hillsdale, the average property value is $100,000. At the current 3.0 millage rate, for example, the property tax stands at $150; however, if the new 4.0 levy passes, the property tax rises to $200.
Members of the City Council hope residents will pass the levy to solidify long-term funding for a city-wide road-maintenance project, a top priority for the council. While the City Hillsdale Charter calls for a 2.5 mill levy for street maintenance, the bulk of this funding goes towards minor patchwork. The council has already made several moves to expand financing for road construction ranging from a redesignation of 3.0 mills from the City General Fund to a debt repayment fund for street reconstruction in 2017 to applying for different state grants.
City Manager David Mackie said if the levy passes, the city will build upon their momentum with the project while cutting down on time in the process.
“Computer estimates show that unless the city procures additional funding, the entire city road-system will continue to deteriorate by the time we finish in 40 years,” Mackie said. Additional funding could finish the project in 15 – 20 years.”
However, if the levy fails, the council will continue to operate off its annual re-evaluation of the general 3.0 debt repayment fund using Special Assessment Districts to fund the project. The leaf collection service would not be reinstituted.
The $13.5 million in road-maintenance projects began in 2016 with the Funding Alternatives Identification & Recommendation Committee evaluation, which divided city roadways into two types: thoroughfares and residential streets. The thoroughfares consist of major roads such as Fayette and Hillsdale street, which typically attract more traffic. Most thoroughfare streets are rated either poor (41.9%) or fair (29.7%) by the FAIR Committee. The city estimates $4.5 million worth of repairs required for thoroughfares.
Conversely, residential streets typically attract less traffic and are located within neighborhoods. After many years of neglect, however, their condition has deteriorated to an increasingly unsustainable level, with more than two-thirds of residential streets receiving a poor (68.7%) rating by the FAIR Committee. Estimates for repairs of residential streets exceed $9 million.
“Road construction generally costs about a million dollars to do a mile since the sewage system in Hillsdale is ancient,” Mayor Adam Stockford said. “So when we repair roads, we usually have to go underneath and redo pipes.”
Hillsdale City plans to pay for half of both types of streets with existing funding mechanisms. However, with thoroughfares, the city could receive grants from the state to cover half of road construction costs. For residential streets, the city opted to establish Special Assessment Districts in which residents agree to split the cost of road construction with the city in their specific zoned area. 51% of residents living in a particular geographical district in the city must agree to establish a Special Assessment District.
Mayor Stockford, while supporting Special Assessment Districts, said he doubted the “perfect” nature of the system.
“It’s not a perfect system. It helps accomplish road construction quicker since funding is procured quicker, allowing projects to jump to the front of the line to get the road,” Stockford said. “However, the closer the margins get when creating a district, I begin to see problems. When 60% of residents are for, but 40% don’t want it, it’s like 60% voted to steal from the other 40% to fix the road.”
Besides providing additional funding for roads, the levy also reinstates the city’s former loose leaf curbside collection service. Several city officials said the program was expensive and tedious to manage.
“It’s expensive, requires a lot of work, and is time-consuming. Often, the leaf collection service runs right up against the preparations for the snow. Coupled with the new state and federal guidelines on composting sites, you can easily see how the costs start to rack up,” Mackie said.
While Stockford agreed with Mackie on the program’s expenses, he explained the costs associated with the privatized leaf-collection service offered last fall.
“It was clear it wasn’t an efficient service because now residents had to rake, bag, and move their leaves to the curb, which added triple to quadruple the amount of time of work,” Stockford said.
When the council voted to approve the May electoral ballot’s levy in February, the resolution passed 5-3, with Mayor Stockford joining counselors Socha and Briner against the motion.
“The roads are a long-term issue; they need a long-term solution. This past year our budget was hurt badly by the shutdown, and since the state legislature has stripped away revenue sharing, it leaves us in a tough situation,” Stockford said. “Our main focus as a city should be economic development right now to ensure a strong recovery. You can’t maximize economic development by raising taxes because businesses will leave where they will have to pay less money to be there.”
Other members stressed the immediacy of the issue at hand.
“It’s one of those things that’s only going to keep getting worse if we don’t do something about it,” Council Member William Morrisey said. “I think the voters know already what they’re voting for since they drive on them every day. The issue at hand is that this issue has been passed over for years by the city. Several of us members ran on the promise of fixing the roads, and it’s time we deliver on that promise.”