This was part of my September 1, 2024 newsletter:
https://a2elnel.com/post/ann-arbor-city-council-newsletter-september-1-2024/
The Ann Arbor City Council agenda for September 3, 2024 includes two items that illustrate how the City budgets and spends taxpayer dollars.
COUNCIL DISCRETION
CA-18 (24-1478) Resolution to Approve Change Order No. 4 with C.A. Hull Co., for the East Medical Center Bridge Rehabilitation and Widening Project, RFP 23-59; ($1,017,851.86 Increase, Total Contract Amount $11,607,881.33)
The contract amendment in CA-18 adds over $1 million to a construction project that could have been completed this year for much less. The current City Council voted unanimously to delay rehabilitation of the East Medical Center Bridge by two years and in the process generated additional cost to the City that now approaches a million dollars.
CA-19 (24-1533) Resolution to Approve the Marijuana Excise Tax Rebate Fund Grant Agreement Between the City of Ann Arbor, and the Regents of the University of Michigan on Behalf of Michigan Medicine
A grant agreement in CA-19 allocates $181,000 in Marijuana Excise Tax funds to Michigan Medicine for services that seem to be accessible only to patients in the UM Health Systems.
City Council unanimously approved this allocation to Michigan Medicine in the FY25 budget proposed by City Administrator Dohoney:
Marijuana Excise Tax
This funding routinely comes in at the last minute, and once again is essentially flat with just a $125K increase. The City Administrator has chosen to invest in several areas this year leveraging the funds where possible. There are new partnerships with the following:
- Shelter Association of Washtenaw County
- Michigan Medicine
- There is also support for the Catherine Street Community Space programming.
In addition, $1M has been left unprogrammed for City Council consideration.
Both the FY24 and FY25 budgets included a spare $1 million to be spent at the discretion of Council. In FY25, Council allocated that allowance and used general fund balance to spend even more: by budget amendment, Council allocated $100,000 (annual) to send mailers to every resident in the City, specifically to promote and publicize current members of Council and the Mayor. Another new allocation for FY25: $55,000 for Council Members to have individual travel budgets of up to $5,000 a year.
In June 2024, the Council Administrative Committee spent 45 minutes discussing how individual Council Members would use a new $100,000 promotional mailing budget and a new $55,000 travel budget. (See time stamp 8:38)
https://youtu.be/dRp7Be5MEKM&t=518
COUNCIL PRIORITIES
City resources are naturally limited, so conversations around City budget and spending will always be a matter of elected leaders balancing the needs and priorities of the local community.
E.g. Beginning in 2020, a majority of City Council set a priority related to City contracts. Individual members began rejecting staff recommendations for City construction contracts; formal staff assessment and scoring of bids were set aside in order to award City contracts to vendors who happened to be affiliated with the trade unions whose political action committees donated thousands of dollars to Council members.
In March 2021, when staff recommended a lower cost bidder, Council Member Eyer offered a substitute resolution in order to award the contract to Bailey Excavating. That substitution cost the City an additional $81,621.95. (Legistar)
In April 2022, a contract for work at Third and Mosley was amended at the Council table to favor Bailey Excavating. From the March 7, 2022 Council meeting minutes: “A motion was made by Councilmember Radina, seconded by Council Member Eyer, that the Resolution be amended with a substitute resolution awarding the contract to Bailey Excavating.” That amendment cost the City an additional $60,503.47. (Legistar)
City Council now regularly rejects less expensive bids for City projects in order to approve spending hundreds of thousands more on specific vendors. To learn more about that, see:
A2ELNEL: A Million Dollars and Counting
A2ELNEL: Another Million Dollars And Counting
COMMUNITY VALUES
The topic of spending, priorities, and Council discretion is timely.
Around the country – and most recently at the Democratic Party National Convention – progressives are sounding the alarm about both the toxic influence of big money in politics and the need for public funding of elections. This November, Ann Arbor voters will consider a City Charter amendment that will make our local government considerably less vulnerable to the influence of big money and political action committees (PACs) by providing support for candidates who choose to rely on small, local donations instead. Small donor matching programs have been implemented at the local level in peer cities such as Evanston (IL), Portland (OR and ME), and elsewhere. In Ann Arbor, this program will cost less than $500,000 a year.
The composition of our current City government is the result of low turnout elections flooded with money. People in power – and the PACs that support them – have predictably lined up in opposition to reforms that would include more voters and address the influence of big money on our elections. Opponents claim that investing in our democracy will come at the cost of vital services for people in need. Without irony, elected leaders frame their opposition to reform as “fiscal responsibility.”
Fortunately, the whole of our community has the opportunity to weigh in on the question: how much is our democracy worth?
You can learn more about a “Fair Elections Fund” program and how it could be implemented here:
https://www.a2future.com/chart-amendment