Hillsdale City Attorney Lew Loren recently announced the city is not authorized to sell streets, thus limiting the potential solutions for road funding.
“In my opinion, the city has the authority to vacate and close streets, but no authority to sell them or the land over which they traverse,” Loren said in a letter to City Manager Linda Brown.
The Michigan Constitution allows for cities to regulate streets, so Hillsdale could close a street in order to avoid paying for its upkeep and repair, but it cannot sell it.
“Within the authority granted by the constitution, statute, and charter is the authority to vacate streets,” Loren said in his opinion, “but the city’s authority to vacate streets and to otherwise exercise reasonable control over them does not extend to or include the right to sell them.”
Loren said cities are not legally able to sell streets because they are held in the public trust.
“The essence of all that is that they don’t acquire any title interest that they can convey by deed,” Loren said.
After the Hillsdale City Council compiled a list of 24 potential road-funding solutions, Brown asked for Loren and his partner, Kevin Shirk, to determine whether or not several of the options are legal.
Using the Michigan Constitution, state statutes, and the city’s charter, Loren and Shirk are examining questionable items on the list, including selling streets, selling Hillsdale’s Board of Public Utilities, and Payments in Lieu of Taxes for nonprofits.
As the attorneys continue to finish reviewing the questionable options, they will send Brown and the council their opinions, but other solutions are still being researched.
Especially after this abnormally harsh winter, Hillsdale and other cities are hoping to receive a small, one-time payment from the state to pay for the extra costs.
State Sen. Bruce Caswell attended the council’s March 3 meeting to talk about several topics, including this potential street funding.
Last year, Caswell asked for one project proposal from each of the four county road commissions in his district and submitted them for funding consideration to the Michigan Department of Transportation. In December 2013, MDOT paid $115 million for transportation projects using the Roads and Risks Reserve Fund.
MDOT funded 103 local and state projects. While Branch county received $1.5 million to replace a bridge, Hillsdale received none.
Some of the $115 million hasn’t been spent yet, and Caswell said some of it may be given to Hillsdale and other counties to pay for costs accrued during the harsh winter.
In Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2015 budget proposal, approximately $250 million more will be dedicated for road funding, but Caswell said that will only cover about 20 percent of Michigan’s $1.2 billion need.
Brown admitted her frustration with the process. Even if Hillsdale receives state money, it can only be used on certain, major roads. .
“Our small, urban background kicks us in the backside every time, because it puts a lot of restrictions on the money,” Brown said.
In addition, the city of Hillsdale was never asked to submit a project to be considered for this funding. While the county road commission’s project was considered, Brown said the city was never asked. Even if the road commission’s project had been accepted, it wouldn’t have helped the city.
