Walled Lake — The city voted to place a replacement public safety millage proposal on the February 2024 ballot, a step city leaders said is necessary to sustain police and fire staffing and operations.

City attorney explained the mechanics and timing: the current public safety millage is expiring and the last collection under that levy would occur with the summer 2024 tax bill unless the voters approve a replacement. The replacement proposal approved for placement on the ballot would, if approved by voters, replace the expiring levy and would be capped at a maximum of 4.2 mills for eight years, subject to state constitutional and statutory limits and the Headlee rollback calculations.

Why it matters: City administration and council members described declining tax revenue in recent years because of rollback adjustments and assessed-value reductions, and warned that without renewed millage revenue the city could face staffing cuts. "If we do not move forward, let the public speak to this issue, we could find ourselves laying people off from the front office to the fire to the police all over again," the city manager said during discussion.

Council action: Councilor Postnack moved and Council member Mindy Fernandez seconded a resolution to approve ballot language for the replacement public safety millage (recorded as resolution 2023-86). The resolution passed on a roll call vote with all voting members present approving the measure; one council member (Ambrose) was recorded absent.

Next steps: If voters approve the replacement in February 2024, the new levy would take effect in place of the expiring levy and collections would begin with the summer 2024 tax bill; if it is not approved the current millage would remain in place and staff may return with a renewal proposal at a later election.

Ending: Councilors said they would continue outreach to explain the levy mechanics and fiscal impacts to residents before the February election.