With plans stalled to offer a millage proposal to voters this year dedicated to law enforcement funding, Allegan County Commissioners are wrangling with other options.
Commissioners, at their planning session Jan. 11, directed county administration to look into paying down debt using the potential $4 million a Headlee override would net the county.
Commissioner Gale Dugan, who first prompted the board to consider an override as a way to increase road patrol and detective staff at the sheriff’s office, suggested using the money to improve the county’s finances long-term.
Dugan said, “So it could be four years and then be gone, and then voters will see the positive results.”
Headlee
Designed to prevent taxes from rising too quickly, the Headlee Amendment to the state constitution has reduced the county’s operating millage over the years to 4.6185 mills—that’s a little more than 1 mill lower than what the county would otherwise be able to levy.
Based on 2017 taxable values, the full operating millage, at 5.7 mills, would collect an estimated additional $4.8 million.
If voters approve a ballot proposal that overrides Headlee for a certain number of years—a four-year time span was discussed by commissioners—the county would have the option to collect any amount up to 5.7 mills.
Commissioner Jessup baulked at that amount as well as that the revenue could be spent more broadly.
“This is becoming a bigger issue than I’d previously considered,” he said. “I think there’s no excitement about something like this. A lot in the public think the services they get right now are all right.
“I’m not saying they are... I think we’d have to build a case for this. I think we could. We have to.”
Temporary
If increasing the millage indefinitely likely wouldn’t have support, county administrator Rob Sarro laid out a hypothetical way the county could use the new revenue if the override was only temporary.
“What if even it was $5 million a year for five years?” he said. “We could look at that... if you paid off the entire pension issue, you paid off any other relevant debt and freed up that money.”
With fewer debt payments, the county would have more funds to devote to its everyday functions. He suggested it might free up as much as $1 million to $2 million annually.
“Those are things I think we could start to put projections to very quickly,” Sarro said. “(The debt payments and other obligations) are placing a tremendous burden on the county’s general revenues to be able to operate.”
Jessup said, “It makes sense to me, but I want to make sure we aren’t buying a new car when we could buy the used car.”
Need versus request
Commission Vice Chair Max Thiele said the intent and design of such a plan were good, but it ultimately didn’t stand a chance with voters.
“I don’t see any interest for something like this,” Thiele said. “Even in just the dialogue today, there are more negatives here than positives. I don’t see any interest in the district I represent. How are you going to overcome that?
Thiele also said the increase in sheriff office staffing had not been identified as a problem.
“It’s been a request for enhanced services at the sheriff’s department,” he said.
That request would bring total staff to 67 by adding eight road patrol positions and six detectives. The patrol jobs would give the department the ability to better maintain five zones of coverage throughout the county; currently, illness, training and vacations reduce the office’s numbers such that they can only effectively keep four deputies on road patrol. The additional detectives would allow the office to again contribute a detective to the West Michigan Enforcement Team, a regional task force that investigates drug cases; as well as having detectives who specialize in certain cases, such as domestic violence or technology crime.
All of that would cost an estimated $1.5 million—more when accounting for increased work at the prosecutor’s office and in the court system.
Thiele said, “If you, the sheriff, want to enhance service, go out and contract; that takes care of it. It takes care of the political buy-in from subdivisions and puts responsibility of the sheriff’s department.”
That refers to the contracts municipalities can set up with the county to provide dedicated deputies for 40 hours weekly.
Undersheriff Mike Larsen said the staffing increase was a need and not merely a request.
“Those numbers were what we deem a need... This is not a wish list or a want. It’s an identified need. We truly feel like there are deficiencies the public needs to be made aware of.”
He said his department speaks with thousands of people who have told them they are in need of the sheriff office’s services.
“We need to get to a point here where we all agree that it’s an identified need,” Larsen said. “And (voters) end up saying through whatever process they still don’t want to pay for it, then (Sheriff) Frank (Baker) knows to do what he has said he will do all along, which is make the best of the resources he has.”
Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.
.