Plymouth Township Council pressure-tests 2026 budget; leans toward higher millage, fire fee and sewer rate increases

Plymouth Township Council reviewed a draft 2026 budget at a Nov. 5 workshop that would keep core township services but shrink the projected ending general-fund balance below best-practice reserves unless the township adopts new revenue measures.

Finance staff said "we're projecting a beginning fund balance of a little over $10 million" and outlined revenue assumptions that include $4.9 million in real-estate tax receipts, $8.9 million in earned-income tax and $8.7 million in business privilege tax. Staff estimated the proposed budget would produce an ending fund balance of roughly $4.7 million, about $600,000 below the Government Finance Officers Association guideline of two months (roughly 17%) of operating expenses.

Why it matters: Councilors said maintaining in-house services — twice-weekly trash collection, a full police department, and the community center — depends on shoring up reserves and funding capital needs. To do that, staff presented several options: raise the real-estate millage from the current 2.1 mills to either 2.5 or 2.8 mills, raise the fire-service fee, and increase sewer rates to pay for a planned sewer project.

Details from the presentation: staff walked through departmental budgets, a reallocation of healthcare and pension charges from a central health fund into department budgets (an accounting change that inflates some department percentage increases but does not add net new cost), personnel cost increases (a 4% salary pool and a $540,000 increase tied to police pension obligations), and capital projects totaling roughly $3.6 million for 2026 (including a $2 million firehouse line item and annual paving).

Household impacts given by staff: moving to 2.5 mills would, on staff examples, add about $72 annually for a property assessed at $108,000 (about $6 per month). A higher 2.8-mill scenario was shown as roughly $126 a year on a $180,000 assessed value (about $10 per month). Councilors repeatedly framed those increases as modest compared with neighboring municipalities that charge separately for trash and other services.

Sewer and capital projects: staff proposed a 9% sewer-rate increase — from $65.65 to $71.56 for the first 7,000 gallons — to help fund the Plymouth Interceptor phase three project, estimated at about $4.4 million. The increase would preserve lower comparative rates in the region while generating capital funding for the interceptor and related repairs.

Council reaction: multiple councilors said they prefer to "write the ship" now rather than defer larger increases to future years. Several members voiced support for the higher millage scenario (2.8 mills) and unanimously favored increasing the fire-service fee to better fund volunteer fire companies and capital needs. Staff cautioned that tax increases are sensitive but noted failing to act would simply push larger increases into the future.

Other budget notes: staff described the retiree-healthcare funding plan — a planned $1.44 million transfer from the OPED trust to the retiree healthcare fund for 2026 — and outlined community center capital work for 2026 (boiler, sauna, fitness equipment) and parks capital projects (playground and dugout replacements).

Next steps: staff said they will prepare a final budget presentation for the council’s Monday meeting and recommended adoption at the regularly scheduled December meeting (Dec. 8). No formal vote on millage, fees or rates took place at the workshop; council asked staff to model the larger scenarios for the final presentation.

Quote from the police update that framed a public-service context: the police chief noted increasing social-service contacts related to people experiencing homelessness, saying the department had "about 36" calls for public assistance this month and was "projected to have about 266 by the end of the year," while noting loss of a nearby code-blue shelter and ongoing coordination with county resources.

What to watch next: the council’s Monday packet and the Dec. 8 regular meeting for final recommended millage, the proposed fire-service fee increase, and formal action on the sewer-rate proposal.