WYOMING, Mich. — City leaders in Wyoming are back at the drawing board, trying to figure out what is the best step forward to fund police, firefighters and the city's parks.
Last week, voters rejected the income tax proposal which would've generated $6 million in annual revenue to hire more than two dozen firefighters, 13 police officers and bring upgrades to the parks.
On Monday, city leaders presented the council with three potential property tax increase options which could go on the ballot this November or May 2023.
The first option would increase the property tax by 8% and would generate $2.3 million. This option would address some public safety needs, but would not fund the parks.
The second option would raise taxes by about 18% and generate a little more than $5 million annually, addressing all of the needs for public safety. At the same time, it would not fund the parks.
Lastly, the third option would raise the property taxes by about 20%. This option would take care of the needs of public safety and give the parks $600,000 in capital investment.
Wyoming's city manager, Curtis Holt, said despite residents rejecting the proposals in last week's election, the city still needs that revenue for police, fire and parks.
"There's a gap in funding," Holt said. "If we need to add service, we need to add personnel. And that's what these proposals were about. They were adding people to police and fire, and also we can't forget parks."
Holt added, "Because our parks millage is now 27 years old, which means a lot of our equipment, our parking lots, our tennis courts, our basketball courts are 27 years old. We have to have the funding to keep those up."
Holt said though the city has funding for the needs of today, that may not be the case soon as the city continues to grow and the demand for police and fire grows as well.
Regardless of whether the proposal goes on the ballot in November or next May, it wouldn't go into effect until the summer of 2023.
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