St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Millage

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Dare to know the truth:
~ SCS Millage
~Troy Library Millage
~Curt Dumas-embezzler
~Erin's dismissed charges
~Macomb County Politics

If you are not ready for the TRUTH....read no further!!

The Truth vs. Fiction about the St. Clair Shores tax increase called "The Police & Fire Millage"

The truth is in the budget numbers

The "Police and Fire" Millage actually helped to pay for the increase in wages and fringe benefits for most of the employees
(this chart excludes the heads of departments, overtime, and temporary employees)

FICTION
(statements from SCS Sentinel ad 10/27/10 page 9A
From a group called RESPONSE)

TRUTH

~ Prop 1: The city will collect revenue to be used towards Police & Fire Dept. expenses

     ~ This millage never was about Police and Fire--it was and has always been about
          balancing the budget while keeping wage and pension increases.
     ~ They use Enron-type accounting manipulating the numbers to look like it's for P&F
     ~ If it was to be used only for Police and Fire, then why didn't their budgets increase?
          (because the money actually goes into the general fund for increases in wages etc.)

~ Prop 2: Guarantees that the city will collect needed revenue and...
maintain the current staffing levels for the Police & Fire Departments

     ~ The police union leaders at the 10/18/2010 City Council meeting said that the
            numbers of police officers on the street are built into the contract. It is called
            "mandatory minimums" that are required by union contract.
     ~ If the number of people in the contract, why is proposal 2 even on the ballot?

~ Plus, council already approved the budget which guarantees current staffing levels...
as long as staff (including the police department) adheres to a 5% wage decrease

The Police earn $75,000 to $100,000
5% equals only $4,000 to $5,000 wage deduction
I'm sure they can forgo the new wave runner or Jacuzzi to help residents, right?

~ Voting YES on Proposal 2 is the ONLY way to maintain levels of public safety

      ~ What this really means is:
         If residents don't keep paying for their wage increases they won't do their jobs?
         That is a ridiculous statement for "RESPONSE" to make

RESPONSE, 22419 Alger
St. Clair Shores, MI 48080
(586) 552-9292

~ Take the POLITICS out of deciding what level of safety is actually SAFE

     ~ The only people who are making this into a political battle is Councilman Frederick
         who seems to forget his oath of office. His oath is to the people of St. Clair Shores
         not to the unions--they already have great negotiators. Why doesn't Mr. Ron
         Frederick start negotiating hard for the SCS residents?

~ Proposal 2 Protects you and guarantees no reduction in essential services

     ~ Can I wave the proposal at a criminal and stop them and "Protect myself"?
     ~ Isn't food on the table and a roof over resident's heads essential too?
     ~ The brave firefighters took a 5% wage cut (and they earn a lot less than police)
          Why can't police, who earn $75,000 to $100,000
          take a $4,000-5,000 wage cut without reducing the level of services they offer?

~ Don't let the city reduce police and fire services for Seniors, the schools, your home...

     ~ Pretty scary words to try to scare your money out of your wallet.
     ~ Again, the only people who are in charge of reducing your services are the men and
         woman of the Police and Fire Departments. City Council has already locked in the
         funds, by approving the budget, to ensure wages, pensions, and capital goods are
         secured for the coming year.

~ Any reduction means longer response times for Medical runs, Fires, 911, crimes, etc.

     ~ There is no solid correlation between this millage and response times...
     ~ I think the person who wrote this garbage is grasping for something scary sounding
     ~ Funny that one year we added 2 fire fighters who reduced their costs by $200,000+
         When 2 police officers were added, they increased their costs by $200,000+

~ Less Police, less Firefighters or less Paramedics may put you, your family, ...at risk.

~ Again, there is no solid correlation between this millage and response times...
~ I think the person who wrote this garbage is grasping for something scary sounding

~ Pretty scary numbers until you apply some simple math and logic:

~ Police runs are up 20.4% this year vs. last year.

Is each police car at a scene considered a run? Most times there are 3 cars.
20.4% could be only 1-5 extra runs per day--really not much more

~ Fire runs are up 47% and EMS runs are up 27% in the last 13 years.

~ Do they really have to go back 13 years to get a 47% and 27% increase?
The "Police & Fire" millage has only been in effect for less than 5 years.

The truth is also on your property tax bill
(Please note: these pension dollar amounts are not part of either proposal above)

Certain groups want you to believe that the Police and Fire pensions are reasonable considering that they don't get social security
(nor do they have money taken out of their pay checks for social security either since 1953)

You can see for yourself, in the chart below, what is wrong with this picture...the millage rate for city operations has stayed pretty consistent
but the rate for Police and Fire Pensions has almost quadrupled

We are paying for some pretty generous/greedy pension packages while people are struggling in this economy
Most SCS police are taking home more money home in retirement than they did while working.
Former Police Chief is making $130,000 in retirement (He made $97,000 while working)