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Mayor O’Reilly: Dearborn at ‘A Defining Moment’

Faced with decreasing property tax revenues and increasing city expenditures, Dearborn city leaders will be taking a critical look at separating the “need to have” from the “nice to have” services as a way to make up for lost revenues, Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., said Wednesday in his State of the City address.

Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr.

“We’ve already lost about 5 percent in property tax revenue in the past two years,” O’Reilly said. “We expect a 10 percent drop this year. And we’re anticipating another 10-15 percent in the next two years. In total, that’s a decline of at least 25 percent . . . If we take no action, make no hard decisions now, we’ll have a $20 million gap between our revenues and expenditures in just the coming year alone.”

Exactly where the cuts will come from is being studied but O’Reilly told the audience at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center Wednesday evening that “everything but the essentials is on the table – and even those essential services may have to be delivered differently.”

“Because of that, I’m not going to shy away from considering any idea regarding our programs and services, even the controversial proposals.”

To make those tough decisions, both the mayor and City Council will have to work together and accept some of the recommendations from the mayor’s recently created Task Force. The group of 28 people from across Dearborn will report their recommendations in May, helping define services and transforming them, too, O’Reilly said.

Last year, a recommendation to close some underutilized city pools as a way to save the city money was met with very vocal responses against the idea by residents. That was enough to convince city leaders — all running for reelection last year – to do nothing.

“We didn’t pursue the less costly alternative of the splash parks; and modest savings weren’t realized, meaning we’re facing even tougher financial decisions now,” O’Reilly said. “This is a process that we can no longer afford to repeat.”

O’Reilly said the city is going to need to look at whether some city services might be able to be converted into a regional operation where many communities could pool resources. Other ideas include trying to determine whether city facilities such as the Dearborn Hills Golf Course, Adray Ice Arena or even the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center could operate more efficiently with a business model, meaning each facility would cover all of their costs, including ongoing capital investments.

“We need to look at everything we do and ask: are we delivering this in the best possible way within our available resources? As tough as these questions may be, and as troubling the consequences they bring, they are relatively small ones.

“The real questions are: What do we want our community to be like in the future? What kind of Dearborn do we want for our children and our children’s children to have? I can’t answer those questions alone. That’s for us to decide together.”

Dearborn no doubt has some tough choices ahead. But as O’Reilly rightly pointed out in his speech, our city went through a similar rough time in 1983 when his late father was mayor. Dearborn emerged stronger because under his father’s direction, O’Reilly said, the city rejected the “business as usual” model; there was “political will” to make the unpopular decisions for the good of the community and because “citizens and businesses were engaged.”

Let’s hope the same is true this second time around.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 12:48 am and is filed under City Hall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • oldalldayschoolmom

    How about putting an end to multiple city pensions. That definitely falls into the “nice to have” category. What Dearborn taxpayers “need to have” is leadership that cleans up its own house first before cutting taxpayer-financed services and employees like librarians.

  • Jim Rockford

    It is always the working stiffs and little people that get cut, people that provide wonderful service and get paid little to nothing. If all of these departments have to have cuts, how come they’re not cutting the department heads or at least cutting their pay along with cutting the mayors pay. No, how dare we cut the big shots pay. Instead let’s stick it to the little guy. I can’t even begin to think of one great thing any department head or our current mayor have done for Dearborn in the past few years. Can you?

    The city cannot run it’s own business and cannot even motivate new businesses to come to Dearborn. It’s time we farmed out some of our services like the libraries, Ford Arts Center, Pools, DISC and other money losing services to an outside firm that can run it like a real business and then Dearborn will get it’s cut.

    We also need to cut down our council, cut the mayor’s pay in 1/2 and all department heads pay in 1/2. After all, if they’re supervising less people, why pay them what they were getting paid when they had full staffs?

  • dozer

    So cut all salaries by 10% now, and 15% down the line as needed.

    If I were a city employee, I would much rather take the salary haircut than have my job eliminated.

    Then again, I’m sure there is pleny of “fat” that could be trimmed if, for instance, an outside, objective consultant were brought in…but don’t hold your breath for that one.

    Dozer

    Period.

    Next issue?

  • Bob

    DEARBORN LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKE DETROIT EVERYDAY. I AGREE WITH JIM, THE MAYOR AND THE CITY COUNCIL NEED TO TAKE A BIG PAY CUT. I LOVE HOW THESE POLITICIANS ALWAYS WANT TO SCARE THE CITIZENS BY SAYING THEY WILL HAVE TO CUT POLICE AND FIRE. WHAT ABOUT CUTTING ALL THE FAT CAT BENNIES AT CITY HALL. WHAT ABOUT CUT THE RETIREES MEDICAL, OPTICAL, AND DENTAL. ITS TIME THE CITY OF DEARBORN OUT SOURCED DEPARTMENTS LIKE LEAGAL AND PLANNING. THE MAYOR WILL HEAR FROM MY TAX GROUP IF HE TRIES TO RAISE TAXES IN DEARBORN. A HIGHER TAX RATE WILL KILL DEARBORN PROPERTY VALUES FURTHER. THE TAX PAYING CITIZENS NEED TO KNOW, DEARBORN HAS ONE THE HIGHEST MIL RATES ( 47) PER THOUSAND IN THE STATE. VOTERS! GET EDUCATED ON THE WAY YOUR CITY SPENDS YOUR TAX DOLLARS! YOUR LEADERS ARE TRYING TO SCREW YOU OVER WITH THERE THREATENING PROPIGANDA………… VOTERS DID YOU KNOW THAT FORMER SENATOR GEORGE HART COLLECTS THREE PENSION! ONE FROM THE CITY OF DEARBORN FOR BEING ON CITY COUNCIL…….ONE FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN FOR BEING YOUR STATE SENATOR,….. AND ONE FROM THE COUNTY FOR BEING A COUNTY COMMISSIONER…… DID GEORGEE! TELL YOU THAT WHEN HE WAS IN OFFICE REPRESENTING YOUR BEST INTEREST!

  • charles

    Slash the dept.heads salary accordingly big guy, as they have less employees to deal with, instead of creating jobs for ex-dept. heads like worthless Norwood. Who knows how much the bldg. dept.cost the residents, while he was in charge. Stop taking care of your cronies, and pass the goods to the residents and the working employees.

  • Donna Hay

    They apparently feel they have everything covered in the 28 member task force. Lots of luck there.

    I am a Ford retiree and they keep cutting our health care benefits but I can’t complain I am still getting my pension. We all have to give a little somewhere in all of this mess and the city hall should be on top of the list. Jim Rockford has some good ideas.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    Here’s a better idea—instead of just changing the library system into an on-line “Netflix” type operation, why not expand that idea to the entire city government?

    An e-city hall would save us even more $$$.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    Bob…are you willing to divulge the name of your tax group? Thanks.

  • Tea Party Tiffany

    This whole Administration needs to go,its time for “Regime Change”. This administration picked up where the last one left off,putting us in an even bigger hole. Whats going on in Dearborn is a micro-chasm of the same corruption going on in Washington D.C.
    Politicians and their appointees making sweetheart deals that pad their pockets while everything else and everyone else around them goes down the tubes.The Mayor tells us the things he has to do to save the city,but fails to tell us he is a big reason the city must be saved to begin with,classic political spin. He talks about jobs and service cuts but fails to mention that city employees and especially management have all just gotten pay raises,look for more pay raises coming down the pike also. I wish more of us tax payers would pay more attention to the city council meetings and see how the council just rubber stamps all the employee and management pay raises.
    WAKE UP dearborn,we are dealing with machine politicians and they have their cronies entrenched in key city government positions and their only objective is to pad their wallets and their pensions and then walk out the door. Remember this next time you go to vote and maybe we will finally get some real CHANGE followed by real HOPE in Dearborn.

  • dozer

    Does anyone know what Joe Beydoun actually does? He never returned a call to my mother when she needed the city’s help.

    How about Norwood? What does he do now that justifies his employment?

    food for thought

    dozer

  • Reason

    Oldalldayschoolmom: I believe it’s called “Wing-nut Teabaggers for Turning America into a Third World Nation,” or WNTBFTAIATWN for short. Their primary goal is to turn our country into Somalia as soon as possible. No taxes, no civil society.

  • Jason

    Umm hey Tea Bagger Tiffany and several others who seem to be expressing the same sentiments.. it’s nice to talk about “regime change” and how we need to throw the “old politicians” out… but WE JUST HAD AN ELECTION! Our mayor was re-elected with 90% of the vote, and all but one council member stayed the same. Maybe you should give some thought to the possibility that you and people of your thinking are actually in the vast minority in this city. Just a group of complainers and do nothings who like to play armchair politician.

  • Darren

    The economy has wreaked havoc on this state and all the communities in it. The shrinking tax base means fewer services. Whether or not our elected officials are doing a good job or not (I might be in the minority, but I think they do as good a job as they can under the circumstances/times we live in), doesn’t detract from the fact that municipalities need revenue. Hence the reason you see cops pulling people over everywhere around here. Sell the Dearborn Towers in Florida. Sell Camp Dearborn. Allow Dearborn businesses to advertise on the City’s website. Put up additional cell phone towers for rent on city property. Put up electric billboards with ads revenue sent to the city. Ticket cars left on the street during snow emergencies (rarely see this happen). Campaign to remove Proposition A (Headlee) and have all homes taxed correctly instead of having one taxed much, much higher than their neighbor. Charge a resident fee of say $20 every autumn to pick up the leaves in front of a residence (I’d pay a few bucks every year to keep this service going. I hate bagging leaves). Open a casino (there’s a can of worms to open…LOL). Seriously, I am just throwing ideas out, just to spur discussion or thought (so no bashing, LOL).

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    Gee…. I think the mainstream politicians are doing just fine turning our country into a third world nation—as a matter of fact, my neighborhood looks like one

  • Reason

    Oldalldayschoolmom, if it looks like a third world country, you can thank the anti-tax protestors. Politicians are so scared to raise badly-needed revenue, and so city, state and federal services suffer. People need to realize these anti-tax libertarian teabaggers are going to be the downfall of the public services we’ve all come to expect.

    Taxes aren’t bad or unamerican or unchristian or whatever they are claiming these days.taxes are the fuel of a civilized and comfortable society.

  • hopeful

    Great ideas Darren!
    I would also like to add to this post since it is more recent that “The Dream is Over” signs irritate me because if you are REALLY trying to sell your property you don’t advertise how bad it is…the dream is over…I can’t get tenants to rent……so why don’t you buy from me so that you also can’t get tenants…..and will have a horrible time with the city government. Usually if you REALLY want to sell your property, you talk about/advertise how GOOD your property is. That would be the equivalent of me trying to sell my home and saying the neighbors suck, the ceiling is falling down etc.

  • EMP

    Ferndale, Madison Heights, Royal Oak, Troy, and virtually every other unit of local government in Michigan are frantically trying to prepare their budgets and all are finding themselves between the proverbial rock and hard place. The following applies almost equally to them all.

    For the sake of argument, let’s say that you live in the city of Nicetown in the state of Bliss. Say also that the numbers used in the following scenarios are not real, but are presented only to illustrate points more simply.

    Suppose that for several years the tax authorities have said that your house was worth $150,000. But now, because of the economic downturn in Bliss, they say it is only worth $100,000. Your house is exactly the same as it was before, only its “paper value” has changed.

    You used to pay Nicetown $1,500 in taxes each year to have good police protection, good fire protection, good streets, and a good level of other city amenities. But because of something called the Emptyhead-lee Amendment and other tax laws, the lower “paper value” of your house now means you will only have to pay Nicetown $1,000 in taxes. Naturally, you say to yourself, “Woo Hoo!”

    But there’s a hitch. Nicetown city officials are telling you that the cost of providing municipal services didn’t magically go down. They insist they can’t provide the same level of services with only a portion of the revenues they collected before.

    You say, “Cut the fat!” But they say there really is no fat, and they open the books and offer to show you the proof of it.

    You say, “Require the overpaid city workers to make concessions!” They would LOVE to say to you that you would never dream of taking a police officer’s or fire fighter’s yearlong salary in exchange for doing their job for a single hour IF the police officer or firefighter got to choose which hour you had to work in their stead. They would also LOVE to ask you when was the last time you met a city worker who benefited from any of the Bush tax cuts. Instead, they simply point out that city workers have families and expenses just like you, and that they are deserving of a living wage.

    Chamomile Party activists invite you to join them in picketing Nicetown’s city hall to protest any future tax increases or future decreases in city services. (Many of them will also be demanding at the same time to see the president’s birth certificate, the debris from the Roswell UFO, the United Nations order forcing the U.S. to allow the 9/11 hijackings, etc., etc.)

    Do you instinctively join them in picketing? (After all, you’ve never really enjoyed paying taxes. And you’ve always sorta wondered about that whole “grassy knoll, single-shooter, Mafia-CIA-Masons-conspiracy” thing.) Or do you ask yourself whether there is a rational answer to this dilemma?

    If your house remains the same whether on paper it is said to be worth $150,000 or $100,000, and if it takes the same number of city workers to provide the same levels of service to Nicetown whether the collective paper value of the properties in Nicetown is $150 million or $100 million, then why isn’t the answer simply to change the Emptyhead-lee Amendment and the other tax laws to make it possible for Nicetown to collect the same amount of tax dollars it collected before the advent of “The Great Paper Devaluation”?

    If you paid $1,500 in taxes last year to Nicetown under a levy of 10 mills on a house with a paper value of $150,000, is that really any different than paying $1,500 in taxes to Nicetown this year under a levy of 15 mills on a house with a paper value of $100,000? While conceding that under a literal interpretation this IS an actual increase of 50% in the tax levy, who but a Chamomile Party activist would try to claim that this results in an increase in the number of tax dollars collected by Nicetown?

    If it took X number of dollars to run Nicetown properly last year, why would any sane person think that it could be run at the same levels of service this year on FEWER than X number of dollars? Perhaps people need to stop, take a deep breath, THINK, and then begin working to change the Emptyhead-lee Amendment and all those other words on paper that are creating this unnecessary tempest in a tea pot.

    (P.S., Did you ever notice that after wreaking all their havoc on Michigan, BOTH Richard Headlee and John Engler PROMPTLY moved away??!! What do you think that says about this “paradise on Earth” they knew they were helping to create through their insane, doctrinaire policies?)

  • Steve

    Wow, it never ceases to amaze me that people in one breath can complain about “no more taxes!” and in the next breath complain that their wait at the Secretary of State is too long, or their library hours are too short, or their neighborhood looks like a third world country, or their Medicare is getting cut, or Social Security is going broke, or….the list can go on and on.

    It’s not that politicians are necessarily wrecking things (although some might be), the bigger problem is that every time a politician in Michigan talks about raising taxes, they get threatened with a recall. The services we want from our government– and that we bitch about when they go away or quality suffers– need to be FUNDED. At a state, local, and national level. Yes, we need good stewardship of that money from our elected officials, but look at the countries with the lowest tax rates: Haiti, Iraq, Somalia. Then look at the countries with the highest tax rates: France, Switzerland, UK. Would you rather our country look and operate like Haiti (80% living below poverty, no infrastructure) or France (6.2% below poverty, 8th highest life expectancy worldwide)?

    I for one am not afraid of taxes, and in fact won’t be having my home’s tax rate reassessed this year, even though my property value has probably dropped and would probably allow me to pay less in taxes. I’ll keep it at the higher rate because our community’s well-being is much more important than a few extra bucks in my pocket. And I encourage anyone that actually cares about Dearborn to do the same.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    Taxes don’t scare me. As a long-time taxpayer, what DOES scare me is the unaccountable ways in which my tax dollars are spent. My neighborhood looks like it is in a third-world country because many of my neighbors are NOT paying taxes and are not even U.S. citizens. Of course, they’ll disappear when the census folks come around.

  • We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Taxes

    I wonder how much we could save if we cut out all social services like ADC to people who had another child while already on ADC? And instead of handing out Bridge cards that are ripe for abuse, set up soup kitchens in every neighborhood where people who can’t afford to buy food could eat. Maybe if welfare carried the same stigma it used to carry there would be more support for Civilian Conservation Camps. How much could we save if we cut out ALL social services for non-citizens? How much could we save if we started confiscating businesses who employ illegal aliens and pay them in cash to avoid paying taxes?

    I was in the grocery store the other day behind a woman whose cart had a lot more steak in it than mine did when she yelled “Do all the registers take Bridge cards?” The entitlement gravy train needs to not only stop, but to be totally derailed.

    There are two types of people who have been walking away from their mortgages. Those who can’t afford to eat and pay the mortgage at the same time and those who walk away because their house is no longer worth more than what they owe on it. They can afford the payment that they agreed to make, but it’s no longer a “good investment” so they decide to just walk away from their obligation. If I take a personal loan to buy stock in a company and the stock loses half of its value, can I just walk away from the loan?

    The second group should be prohibited from getting ANY kind of loan for at least 10 years, and being forced to pay rent to those of us who have lived within our means during this crisis. And any bank who makes a loan to such a person should be prohibited from recieving any kind of government bail out.

  • jill

    EMP- your logic is good except that you are assuming that the payment of $1,500 per year was the correct amount for the services. We have been overpaying for years and most taxpayers just go along because the have no choice. Every year the taxes went up and the money was spent. That does not mean the money was well spent. The city officials should have been using the increase in the income of the city -way up because of the great increase in values – to upgrade the physical plant, pay down debt, and build up the rainy day fund if they could not bring themselves to give it back to the taxpayers.

    In economics there are laws that told us this great increase in value would not continue. The phenopmenom of the bubble goes at least way back to the Dutch tulip bubble in the 1700s. But the city administration wanted to get all the golden eggs it could.

    And now Jack is not even being legitimate with new contracts. A person was transferred from B&S to the court system and the clerk type job was reclassified so the person got a $6,000 pay raise.

    Before there are cuts in recreation services how about making city employees pay the same amount to belong to the Ford Fitness Center as others have to pay? The city employees only pay one half the rate. The administration uses these type of “soft” benefits to keep the benefits out of the public scrutiny. Similarly with tickets to performances that are not sold out going to friends.

    How about dropping Homecoming? The city subsidizes this event to a great extent and it does so in order that the Mayor can have his “steak out”set up and take down paid for the by taxpayers. And the other pols like it (what is not to like if we pay for it?) so they can campaign and get all the old folks (who always vote for the people who gave them a free breakfast at homecoming). IF Homecoming is such a great boon to the businesses then I am sure that they will pay for it. IF Homecoming is so importantt to the school alumni, then let them pony up the money. If not, as I expect, then let it go.

    I agree that there must be cuts. But let us not kid ourselves that the city administration has made any real changes in the way it operates. Norwood.

  • Tea Party Tiffany

    Hay Jason,we are aware of a recent election in dearborn and yes the mayor got 90 percent of the vote,he was basically unopposed,its like saying saddam hussein got 100% of the vote,gee i wonder why?
    We also had a recent Presidential election not long ago,and his approval rating was 90%,but its at 43 % now,,lol
    Our country woke up and realized it elected an incompetent leader and now dearborn will do the same thing for the next election. Its also funny how a small minority of people that were dismissed changed the outcome in new jersey,Virginia and Massachusetts!
    If such a minority movement can change electoral outcomes in those states it can certainly happen in Dearborn,and it needs to happen.
    Who else on here is ready to join the Tea Party in Dearborn?

  • Bob

    DEARBORN NEEDS GO THROUGH A STRUCTURED BANKRUPCY LIKE GM DID SO IT CAN GET RID OF ALL IT LEGACY COSTS AND PENSION OBLIGATIONS.

  • Steve

    Tiffany, where are you getting the numbers 90% and 43%?

    This is why teabagging will never catch on with the middle– most of your arguments are exagerations, lies and the promotion of fear. Also, based on your writing skills, not very educated.

    Movements that are buiilt on being *against* things don’t survive or thrive. You guys aren’t “for” anything– there’s no progress being made, it’s a desperate attempt to retain the status quo, which in our constantly changing world, means we’ll soon be lagging behind the rest of the planet. Your “movement” is just reactionary and as a result, will most likely burn out shortly. And even if it does manage to hang on for a while, nothing good will come of it, as it drags us back. It will not sustain us or carry us forward.

    Good luck and have fun with your signs and protests.

  • Jason

    Haha, C’mon Tiffany, take your Tea Party propoganda elswhere. This is Dearborn, were smarter than to get “tea bagged” by your Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin run scam. I’m sure this mayor and council are just a bunch of socialists or undercover communists anyway right? Why don’t you take a page outta old Glenn’s book and “secede” from Dearborn. I promise we won’t miss you. Besides this isn’t congress, nobody here’s up for election for another 4 years so you and your cronies can have Tea Parties on the banks of the Rouge River till the cows come home but it’s not gonna make a darn bit of difference here.

  • We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Taxes

    “Bob says:

    March 12th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
    DEARBORN NEEDS GO THROUGH A STRUCTURED BANKRUPCY LIKE GM DID SO IT CAN GET RID OF ALL IT LEGACY COSTS AND PENSION OBLIGATIONS.”

    Yeah, the city should just walk away from its obligations like an irresponsible homeowner so they can afford to pick up the leaves.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    If the Tea Party becomes a registered party in time for the 2010 election in Michigan, you can bet there will be a Tea Party candidate running for Gino Polidori’s house seat. THAT should give Dearborn voters at least a chance to effect true change in that political cesspool called Lansing.

  • Steve

    oldalldayschoolmom, as a registered Democrat and bleeding-heart social-justice-loving progressive, there is nothing that I want more than for a Teabagger to run for Gino’s seat, and the governor’s office, and Congress, and president. In fact, I urge you to run as the third-party candidate, oldalldayschoolmom. I’ll be the first one to sign your petition, and I will help you get all the necessary signatures.

    Tell me, what do I have to do to make sure Tea Bagging becomes a registered third party in Michigan for the 2010 elections? You name it, I’ll do it, sister.

  • Wanting Better for Dearborn

    Dear EMP,
    Glad you are happy paying your taxes. That means you are also happy with the decisions the Council is making with those dollars. Like buying the Montgomery Wards building at a premium price and selling it for several MILLION dollars LESS. Why is the City involved in ANY real estate dealing? They certainly are not good at it and it doesn’t help my City services losing money on every deal.

    I’m also not happy keeping around people like Norwood who destroyed a department and was rewarded with another. I want someone in charge who can make the hard decisions. Norwood would have been fired in the real world. There is no accountability in this City and no fear about not being re-elected. Free rein allows them to continually make bad decisions.

    The City was given a chance to elect some actual businessmen (Kiernan, D’Ambrose) but chose to go with name recognition only. Dearborn gets what they asked for, same old, same old. Time to wake up but now we have to wait another 4 years.

  • Tea Party Tiffany

    Hey steve and jason,i hate to break it to you but your liberal progressive dream is about to end in a few months and wont ever be back,,lol
    Thanks to idiot liberals in congress and white house they have showed the masses in our country how insane progressive ideas are and come November it all comes to an end for good,,lol
    The people of Dearborn have 4 years to wake up and realize that similar insane ideas are trying to be jammed down our throats here,i hope i can see your face when the incumbents are ousted out of here and im sure the look on your face will be the same look you had when scott brown won Massachusetts,,,ha ha ha

  • Gino

    Jack what an embarrsment you are — almost copying verbatum your dads speech. The only problem is, he was a leader, and you are a follower, forming groups to make your decisions for you (just like the schoolboard normally does). Form your little yes men and women, and you will never grow a pair, try making a decision, and then follow thru.

  • Reason

    Tea Bag Tif:
    First, you never answered Steve’s question as to where you got your prez approval numbers. I don’t like it when people make things up to make a point, so until you can show us a poll that back up your claim, I’ll just assume you are making things up.

    Second, you might be right about the republicans taking back Congress in the fall. Those things happen. But if you think “liberal progressive” ideas will be gone “forever” you’re either naive or ignorant of American political history. Things happen in cycles.

    Third, what liberal progressive ideas have been “shown” to be “insane?” Can you point out some things that have been put into place by those “idiot liberals” that have in fact showed the masses how insane progressive ideas are? And, FYI, Glenn Beck calling things insane doesn’t make it so.

  • wedontneednostinkingpermit

    Jill-where did you get this information from?—-”A person was transferred from B&S to the court system and the clerk type job was reclassified so the person got a $6,000 pay raise.”
    Does your source know how much was that individual’s salary before at B&S, and what is it now? How does your source know that the clerk job was reclassified to a higher classification to accomodate the transferee? Because I know that job was advertised last fall on the court website at $23,750 per year, and was a deputy court clerk I classification. Are you saying that the person who filled that spot is making $6000 more than $23,750? Where is your information coming from?

  • Turk182

    “Wanting Better for Dearborn” hit the nail on the head,there is absolutely no accountability in this administration or anyone in management,true cowards that always go after the little guy that has no defense or money for a defense.The Mayor forms groups and committeess to make big decisions so that way if a decision pans out he can say ” i formed that committee” and if they go wrong then he can throw them under the bus and say “the committee made a bad decision and i will fix things now”,classic politician.
    Look behind the curtain and see who the Mayor has promoted or appointed,more than half do not even live in this city and yet they are making decisions for us tax payers????
    Some people in high positions have nothing further than a high school education while others with master degrees were passed over and snubbed.Almost all of those in high positions already have the time to retire but most our padding their pensions with our tax dollar and will walk out the door in the next 4 yrs as this city goes under.

  • Jill

    If you want the proof, ask for a FOIA on the pay last year and the new pay this year at 19th Dist. Ct. clerks section. There are very few people in that section so the cost should be very minimal.

  • Turk182

    We do deserve what we get,almost all of the same people are back in place after the election,that means no change and more support for this Mayors ideas. Shooshanian,Abraham,sierini,hubbard are all “yes men” of the past 2 administrations,go back and look at all of their votes the past 10 -15 yrs.
    Dearborn must take these next 4 years and really understand the change we need at the top and in these council positions,throw out name recognition and lets go for real change or we might as well change our name to Detroit.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    I have come to the conclusion that the pathetic record of Michigan’s two-party legislature proves that they have been teabagging taxpayers for many years; our gag reflexes just took a long time to kick in…

  • Donna Hay

    Turk – if only it would work out that way in the next 4 years. There are just too many people set in their ways and there is no changing their minds.

  • emanon

    Shady, you’re way too smart to be working in City Hall, esp. the wing you’re in.

    So is Big Jack ready to admit the idea of a city owned convention center is beyond the pale?

  • Dearborn employee

    I work for the clerical bargaining unit in Dearborn so I can tell you that our unit has not had a raise since 2003 and we are currently in negotiations. The city is not offering us anything–it is all take aways and that is how it has been since 2003…. While the Executive and Administrative Bargaining Unit (the unit with all the department heads and deputy directors, etc…) just received an increase on their longevity pay as well as a wage increase and possibly a bonus too!

    So, the answer is easy: cut at the top! where the fat is and stop hitting the little guy that does all the work!

  • Turk182

    Dear Dearborn employee,
    You are just witnessing the “Dearborn way”,greedy politicians that get elected by the sheep citizens of dearborn,this city has the most lame,uneducated and uninformed citizens to ever go to a voting booth and thats if they even care to go vote that day.But how can they be informed when the papers in this city are just a mouth piece for the administration.
    The whole system in this town is set up in their favor to get the results they want. Hey Mr. Deep,this site is a start but how about you do some investigative journalism and start looking into all of these claims,look into the Administrative,Department Heads and Superintendent wage increases of the last 5 years,look into the ones that took place weeks before the Mayor gave his big speech on cuts. Will you put your findings in the paper or will you bury it and leave the tax payers in the dark on these issues?
    How about you do a comparison article and show how the DPD got a 12 percent raise and the DFD got a 9 percent raise and now when all other contracts are up the Mayor now says there must be cuts and possible layoffs. Are you going to put an article in the paper showing these facts?
    If i just want fake news and propaganda then i can always just put on CNN or MSNBC.

  • Fed up

    The city should focus on maintaining the services that are directly connected to the community and let go of the ones that are not. For that reason, and regardless of the loss that the city would take on the property, it is time to sell Camp Dearborn.

    The libraries are much more important to property values than a damn campground! If you think that your property values are bad right now, wait until they start boarding up the branch libraries. The branch libraries are very important to the community. They prop up our neighborhoods and if they go, so will our neighborhoods.

    Additionally, the branches are much more important to the neighborhoods than the Henry Ford Centennial Library. The main library currently attracts many, many nonresidents from Detroit. In addition, supporting such a large building with so much overhead and such a large staff is not cost effective. The branches are smaller and less expensive to operate and residents want a library close by so that they don’t have to drive all away across town to pick up a book, read the newspapers and magazines or to check out a movie for Saturday night.

    As time goes by and we all try reduce our carbon print, our desire to have direct access to a library that is within walking distance of our homes will have increasing value but, unless residents speak up, the library administration and the library commission are going to do everything they can to protect the cold, white library on Michigan Avenue that is out of everyone’s way.

    The city should convert the main library to a mini conference center with multiple meeting rooms available for lease and leave the branch libraries alone!

  • I disagree

    Libraries have outlived their usefullness for the majority of people who used them 10 or more years ago. With the availability of the internet there is no reason to have so many branch libraries, let alone to have them open all week. 2 days a week is fine. Sorry if you’re a library employee, but libraries are “nice to have”, not “need to have” these days. We need to cut a lot of the “nice to haves”. It would be stupid to sell Camp Dearborn now. It should be rezoned and sold when it’s actually worth something.

  • John

    How low has Dearborn sunk. Wrestling at the Henry Ford Performing Arts Center?

    What quality entertainment. That white elephant of a building has probably never been in the black operationally. Good old Jack had to have that theatre built for tons of money, like we are Branson Missouri or something.

    I am sick and tired of these geniuses in local government freely spending my tax dollars on every little whim they have. Maybe Jack should have stuck with acting.

  • oldalldayschoolmom

    To see a future without neighborhood/branch libraries is to look at Detroit.

  • Homegrown

    As a retired Dearborn police officer, I must correct some information previously reported. “Turk 182″ stated on 3-16-10: “How about you do a comparison article and show how the DPD got a 12 percent raise and the DFD got a 9 percent raise and now when all other contracts are up the Mayor now says there must be cuts and possible layoffs. Are you going to put an article in the paper showing these facts?”

    I cannot speak for Dearborn fire fighters, however I know that Dearborn Police Officers went several years without a contract that was finally settled last year. They received the following increases that amount to a 10% increase over 6 years, ending 06-30-2012:

    As of 07-01-2006 2%, 07-01-2007 2%, 07-01-2008 zero increase, 07-01-2009 2%, 07-01-2010 1%, and 07-01-2011 3 %. This brings the top pay for a p[olice officer to $67,030 per year after July 2011.

    In the past year the Police Officers Association of Michigan (www.POAM.com) reported at least (16) other negotiated contracts that were finalized in the past year for some police departments they represent. Please check for yourself and see that Dearborn Police are not out of line with other negotiated contracts, in fact, their pay increases are actually lower than most. Please bear in mind that DPD went several years without a contract before it was settled last year for 6 years up through July 2011. “Turk 182″ makes it sound like DPD got a huge increase (12% ?) in a short period of time, which is not the case. They started contract negotiations in 2006 before all the serious economic problems hit Dearborn, Michigan and the rest of the country. I am sure that like many other municipalities, Dearborn will be looking into some give backs by their police and fire departments, and will probably look into the changing current charter amendments, which state a certain number of fire and police officers have to be maintained, regardless of the economy and ability to pay.

    Everyone is doing more with less resources, and police departments are in the same boat. What most do not realize is that working with fewer police and fire personnel not only is dangerous for the communities they serve, but doubly so for those police officers and firefighters who are now in a position of doing their jobs without adequate personnel and resources. I personally do not know many people that can do the job of a police officer, especially now-a-days. Their every action is scrutinized by the media, the public, and the very department they work for, well above the expectations of the majority of jobs.

    Do I get a good pension? Yes, I do. I worked hard for many years and placed myself in dangerous situations that “normal” people would never dream of. Most of those years were for inadequate pay and shift work that took me away from my family and other opportunities afforded others.

    I am sure that everyone, including police and fire personnel everywhere are aware of the economic problems we all face. Don’t be quick to label everyone as “fat cats” living on wages and pensions envied by all. I am proud of the fact that few people could have done my job, and I stood up to the plate and proudly worked for the safety of the citizens of Dearborn. We do receive pretty good pensions, however it is not enough for me to live on for the rest of my life, and I have to continue to work like everyone else. Most police departments have converted to Defined Contribution benefits (401/403b, etc.), as opposed to previous Defined Benefit pensions. Dearborn went back to a Defined Benefit pension system a couple of years ago (MERS system). This was done because there was no provisions for any kind of duty disability, and many recruits left Dearborn PD because other departments had a better pension. Dearborn PD could not get the best new officers and it still remains a problem to this day.

  • I disagree

    “oldalldayschoolmom says:

    March 18th, 2010 at 9:46 am
    To see a future without neighborhood/branch libraries is to look at Detroit.”

    Hyperbole. And Detroit was able to use the resources that were wasted on branch libraries to keep the main library open, one of the best research resources in the area. There is no need to keep branch libraries open just so the people who live within walking distance of them can use them. You can’t even get people to walk from a parking structure a half block to the commercial area in this town. Probably more than half of the people who use branch libraries drive to them. Let them drive an extra couple of miles to the main library and use the resources more wisely.

  • andy

    I heard Big Jack was going to jump in the ring as part of the promotion (not a bad idea).

  • Mary Anne Wilkinson

    The Henry Ford Performing Ats Center was built under Guido’s administration. Jack may not be doing all he should to clean up the city government, but he is not responsible for building the Arts Center. That is definitely a facility that belongs in the private sector.

  • Turk182

    I do think some libraries can be scaled back and i agree that we should hold on to camp dearborn until the market goes back up. Lets not lose focus though,”Kwame” orielly is a big reason we are still sinking and sinking faster than ever,CHANGE must happen next term.

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