Dearborn Millages Pass, Civil Service Stays
Dearborn residents voted Tuesday to raise the city tax rate by 4.5 mills and defeated a proposal to eliminate the Civil Service Commission.
On the Public School Board side, a new board member was elected and another long-time member kept his position for another term.
Voter turnout was a pathetic 21 percent with just 12,493 of the 59,160 registered voters in our city casting ballots. A lot more work has to be done by our elected officials but yesterday’s results were a big step in the right direction.
The results are below:
Proposal 1: 3.5-mill operating millage
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,420 (60.42 percent)
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,860 (39.58)
Total . . . . . . . ….12,280
Proposal 2: 1-mill dedicated library millage
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,379 (59.81 percent)
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,959 (40.19)
Total . . . . . . . . . 12,338
Proposal 3: Should the city eliminate the Civil Service Commission?
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,158 (51.11 percent)
YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,891 (48.89)
Total . . . . . . . . . 12,049
Dearborn Public Schools Board Member
Joseph A. Guido . . . . . . . . 5,988 (31.09 percent)
Roxanne McDonald . . . . . 5,922 (30.75)
Mary K. Petlichkoff . . . . . . 4,784 (24.84)
Stephen Stanley Dobkowski, Jr. . . . 2,528 (13.12)
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 39 (.20)
Total . . . . . . . . . 19,261
November 9th, 2011 at 11:22 am
OK! The city officials got what they wanted – more revenue! So lets see how well they manage it. If the past history is any indication what we are in for they will waste it away like they have the past 10 years – on projects that suck up tax payers’ dollars with nothing to show for it. We have two years to put together a coalition of new candidates and sweep these useless politicians out of office – from the mayor on down through the council.
I have one question that keeps arising and no answer ever given. What ever happened to the “Rainy Day Fund” that Mayor Guido was always holding for a rainy day. Did that fund “die” with him??
November 11th, 2011 at 11:43 am
About a year or so ago, the rainy day (reserve) fund was less than $25 million, when it used to be around $40 million when times were better. I believe I read something on it that it was down to around $16 million and that the city was going to use some of this fund to help lower the budget deficit. Said has more access to this type of info than I do and let’s hope he has time to look it up and post the correct information.
November 11th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Now we can see how the Big Boy on Schaefer & Michigan screws this influx of money. Will he do as he has while he has been in office, or actually give us hope to stay in the City? I personally don’t believe he is capable of turning things around, unless he gets some people with the proper expertise to do so. Good Luck big guy, and don’t choke on the influx of money, or is it going to be all used up after the lawsuits, against the City.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Deep inquire about how our fellow Dearbornites feel about the recent ruling against Mark Sommers and Mayor O’Reilly in the Rev. Jones case — we all knew it was going to be in the Reverands favor, but inquire if you will.
November 12th, 2011 at 12:42 pm
any ideas who the “write-ins” for school board were?
November 13th, 2011 at 8:11 am
Trust me Danielle you are correct, O’Reilly now will have his own rainy day fund to pay off all of the lawsuits that the City has lost (by the way thanks Debbie Walling), and the future ones they (Somers & O’Reilly) will lose. Since the City is outsourcing everything, why don”t they outsourse Somers and O’Reilly).
November 13th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Danielle, I would hardly call the ruling a total or even significant victory for Jones. It appears the judge found in the city/county’s favor on the main point of contention in that Jones was lawfully prohibited from demonstrating at his preferred location on Good Friday, under penalty of arrest, and that the “Peace Bond” process was legal and proper and reasonable. So he doesn’t have to stay away for three years. Big deal. Let him go out there with his handful of pot stirrers and attract a handful of screaming attention grabbers from the other side and have at it on a regular day. I’m pretty sure the Dearborn court tossed in the three-year restriction when they had the chance just for good measure so the appeals court judge could toss it out and make it look like a compromise when in fact, the main issue was the validity of the oldie but goodie peace bond process. It will be interesting to see if other communities use this process now since it has been upheld on appeal and whether Jones and Co. will try to appeal to the next level.
“Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Ziolkowski sided with county prosecutors and the city on prohibiting the men from holding the planned anti-Islam protest on Good Friday, saying the expected crowds of protesters and counter protesters would have unduly burdened worshippers at the several nearby churches, but also said the three-year ban was an inappropriate restriction.”
November 13th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Now that the millage’s have passed lets see what happens. Well….how about City of Dearborn workers picking up leaves on a holiday for triple time. Hmmm if I knew the mayor would be letting city employees pad their paychecks I would have voted differently. Let me guess, we will see the city picking up leaves for Thanksgiving weekend as well. Triple time for leaves? You must be joking. I guess the city isn’t hurting financially like we’ve been lead to believe.
November 14th, 2011 at 7:32 am
The city still hasn’t picked up leaves in my area so we just keep raking them into the street. What a mess.
November 14th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I want to know just how a resident of Dearborn can monitor the spending of the new millage funds so it doesn’t just float away in the general fund. You know how easy it is to mask in the general fund.