WAYNE COUNTY

Garden City renews tax; Northville rejects road millage

Charles E. Ramirez
The Detroit News

Garden City’s voters renewed a public safety millage Tuesday, but Northville residents rejected a millage to pay for road repairs.

Both the Clarenceville and Hamtramck school districts won approval of tax renewals for general operations.

Unofficial election results from Garden City showed the five-year, 3.5-mill tax won with about 70 percent voting yes.

City officials said the measure will not raise property owners’ taxes but will generate $1.7 million in its first year to pay for police and fire services.

Retired Garden City police officer Bob Chidester, 65, said he supported the millage. Chidester said he’s lived in Garden City his whole life and retired from the police force 12 years ago.

“I live here and I grew up here,” he said. “I want the city to be safe. If you remove guys from the police and the fire department, response time is going to be hurt.”

But Kyle O’Brady, 26, and also a lifelong Garden City resident, said he doesn’t think the millage is necessary.

“When you see someone pulled over, there are always like four cop cars there,” he said. “I don’t understand why they need any more money.”

Garden City voters also chose two mayoral candidates to face off in November’s general election: incumbent Randy Walker, who got 64 percent of the vote and challenger David Fetter, who got 29 percent. The remainder of the vote went to third-place finisher E. Wallace.

In Northville, the 15-year, 2.25-mill increase to fund road and street improvements was overwhelmingly defeated, with 67 percent voting no.

The proposed millage would have cost the owner of a home with a market value of $250,000 an additional $280 a year, if it had been approved, according to officials.

It also would have increased the annual budget for street resurfacing and reconstruction from $350,000 to more than $1 million when combined with the city’s existing 1.1-mill road and street levy.

Officials planned to use the money to improve about 16.6 miles of roads and streets — or about two-thirds of all its roads — over the next 15 years. Northville covers a 2.2-square-mile area equally divided between Wayne and Oakland counties.

In the Clarenceville Schools district, which covers Livonia, Farmington Hills, Redford and Southfield, voters renewed a 10-year, 19-mill non-homestead property tax to pay for general operations, according to unofficial results.

The millage applies only to local businesses and industrial and commercial properties in the district — which is divided between Wayne and Oakland counties.

The results in Hamtramck mean the school district will continue collecting a 10-year, 18.18-mill non-homestead property tax, allowing the school system to continue collecting more than $1.8 million a year. Voters had rejected the same tax in February.

In Livonia, Dennis Wright and Brian Meakin claimed the top two spots in a five-way race to succeed Mayor Jack Kirksey and will face off in November.

Voters in other Wayne County communities chose candidates for mayor and other offices and decided on money requests from cities and school districts.

In Allen Park, the City Council candidates moving on were led by: Gail McLeod, Kevin A. Rourke, Tina Gaworecki, Angelo Americao Degiulio, Larry Templin, Robert Turner and Harry Sisko.

In Inkster, Clarence Oden Jr., Calvin Hayes, Sandra Watley and Lorenzo Moner Jr. were the top vote-getters in their council race.

Voters in Highland Park gave the nods to Hubert Yopp and DeAndre Windom in the mayoral race while Rodney Patrick, Chris Woodard, Norma Jean Lewis, Glenda M. McDonald and Shamayim Harris led the way in the council race.