2021 Public Safety Millage Request

Introduction

The current 10-year public safety millage, set at 1.95, expires this year. We are proposing 3.95 mills for the next 10 years for 3 main reasons:

To ensure the safety of our growing community: more people need more police and fire services to provide for their safety. We cannot afford to add personnel for the nearly 10,000 new Pittsfield Township residents since 2011 without a higher revenue stream.
This growth and development and associated increases to the General Fund have allowed it to cover public safety costs. Currently, 60% of public safety revenue comes from the General Fund. However, as the Township looks to slow down development and focus more on preservation and with the County public safety and mental health millage set to expire in 5 years, a dedicated source of revenue is essential to provide for public safety.
To sustain our current standard of an average response time of 5 minutes or less while having more resources to: (a) Expand social and racial justice initiatives; and (b) Work with social workers and other partners to more effectively address opioid and mental health issues as they relate to public safety.

The proposed 3.95 Public Safety Millage will not significantly alter Pittsfield Township's status as having one of the lowest tax rates in Washtenaw County while being one of only two full-service municipalities providing water, sewer, rubbish, parks and recreation, public safety (police and fire), assessing, and building services.

Failure to approve the 3.95 Public Safety Millage will require Pittsfield Township to reduce its services to our community ranging from police and fire to community development and sustainability. For police and fire it will likely include, but not be limited to, the following:

Eliminate six (6) police officers
Eliminate four (4) firefighters
Maintain or cut salaries that will impact the quality of our workforce
Defer our racial equity initiatives and programs
Reduce essential training for police and fire personnel
Extend equipment and vehicle lifespan beyond accepted best practice and standards
More reactive police/fire responses & longer response times
Reduce attendance at community events.

Total Millage Comparisons

Current (Public Safety 1.95 Mills)

Proposed (Public Safety 3.95 Mills)

Fiscal Stewardship
Millage Rate Comparison
Planning for the Future

Our fiscal stewardship of your tax dollars, over the past decade, is borne out by the fact that we:

Have continuously reduced administrative costs, including through number of employees
Have maintained the low administrative costs as evidenced by the fact that our overall expenditures have remained essentially the same over the past decade
Have strategically deployed our limited sworn officers and firefighters, which has kept major crimes at essentially the same levels as a decade ago
Acquired $50 million in grant funding, since 2009, to improve the safety and well-being for all in our community

For the last 10 consecutive years, Pittsfield Township has received the award of excellence in financial reporting, the highest form of recognition from the Governors Finance Officers Association (GFOA.)

Pittsfield Township is the only Township in all of Washtenaw County to receive this distinguished award on a continual basis over the past decade.