GLADSTONE, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Tuesday, Gladstone voters passed a ballot proposal that takes away the City’s power to levy special assessments.
For more than a century, the City of Gladstone has utilized special assessments to collect millages for roadwork, infrastructure improvements, and other projects. Once the November 5 election results are certified, that will no longer be the case.
The Gladstone Citizens Council led an initiative to eliminate special assessments. Citizens Council Director Mike O’Connor believes tax increases should be decided on by voters.
“A lot of people went to meetings and they saw how the process works—that they go in there, they can speak, and the Commission in two meetings can raise taxes as much as they want using a special assessment,” said O’Connor. “Now, they’re going to have to go to a vote of the people. This is going to be fair for everyone.”
The ballot proposal calls for an “immediate” end to the collection of funds for special assessments that are already in place. Without that money, Gladstone City Manager Eric Buckman says roadwork will be completed at a much slower pace.
“That’s about $580,000 that street funds are going to have to make up somehow,” he said. “I’m assuming that there were quite a few people that said, ‘Hey, if we vote yes, we get a free road in front of us.’ That’s hard to beat. I thought there would be enough people in the town that have gone through special assessments and have paid them that understand how they work and how they’ve improved our roads.”
Buckman says he is disappointed by the election results, with approximately 69% of voters supporting the amendment to the city’s charter.
“Changing your charter is not something you take lightly,” he said. “It was taken lightly yesterday, and that’s too bad. The people that started the petition actually have financial gain because they were paying on the special assessment. Some of them are saving thousands of dollars because it was passed, and that’s why they pushed this referendum.”
According to Buckman, the ballot proposal does not impact the current Public Safety special assessment, which the City Commission approved in June under a separate public act.
Although the ballot proposal was a success for the Gladstone Citizens Council, O’Connor says their work is not yet finished.
“I set up across the street from City Hall last night to collect signatures on a new petition,” he said. “This one would be to carve out some tax money just for roads—20%—and it would be an ordinance, so it would be fixed in law. The nice thing is the Commission could decide to offer an alternative, say 15% or whatever, but enough money to do our roads.”
O’Connor is hopeful that the Commission will work with MDOT or the Road Commission to do a study on how much funding is needed to fix Gladstone’s roads.
