Yesterday, we attended a Meet and Greet of local REALTORS® and the Macomb County Commissioners. I have never had an interest in government nor do I care to listen to what politicians have to say, especially since they all say one thing and do another. But with government spending more and more and getting bigger and bigger, while people are losing houses, jobs and cutting Waaaay back, we figured we would attend and see what they had to say.
So what was discussed???
After the normal introductions we listened to what the Commissioners had to say as they talked about the great services Macomb County has to offer like the Smart Bus Service, the Macomb Orchard Trail, our Library and much more. The REALTORS® talked about the county's declining property values and how we could use the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, to rid our streets of foreclosures. We discussed job loss and how the commissioners wanted to bring businesses to Macomb.
The Commissioners also discussed the Macomb County tax increase of .36 mills which was passed by a 13 -12 vote. With a final vote expected in April, at the public hearing. Since property taxes in Michigan are a huge thing when purchasing a home I asked "what will we be getting for the extra money"? Basically I was told Nothing. Why? Because the County has a shortage in their budget.
Now this is exactly why I do not like government. They pushed for more and more and services as property values increased along with property taxes. But now that the property values and taxes are coming down, rather than cut services back to 1995 levels they ask for a tax increase. Are they cutting back Yes.....just like everyone else. But they may need to cut back much more. Our residents are house poor and strapped for cash and I wonder if the services the county offers even benefit many of our hard working residents.
Of course our beautiful roads came up and the fact that ours are some of the worst roads in the county. One thing I did not know was that the Road Commission is not run by of the board of commissioners.
Another heated topic was if Macomb County should move from a 26 member board of commissioners and a chairman to a County Executive, with less than half of the board members. The REALTORS® really did not say to much but boy did we hear from the commissioners that were present. You could plainly see who wanted want. In case you do not know about this. The process started a few years back and last year the voters of Macomb approved a charter commission to draft an overhaul of the county's government structure to move towards a County Executive.
My concern of course is which commissioners would be cut? Would I lose my voice? Who will be the Executive? From what party? Will the county be better off financially? If we cut half of the part time commissioners and add an Executive with a huge staff (think government) and increase the wages of the remaining commissioners will we be better off? Is this something we need to move Macomb County forward? Or are we better off the we are right now??
You be the judge - here's a few opinions from Charter = County, Macomb County Republican Party and an article by the Romeo Observer.
All in all I did enjoy the meeting quite a bit. However, it was a little disappointing that only 7 Commissioners out of 26 attended even worse only 12 REALTORS® out of over 3500 were present, 3 of which we Ed, our son Mike and me.
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