City’s five-year budget plan that includes deficit spending

By Charles Sercombe
While Hamtramck has emerged from a financial crisis that required state intervention, its future is still questionable.
Recently, City Manager Katrina Powell released her projected budget for the next five years.
During those years the city will still be in deficit spending, but thanks to a $2 million budget surplus it won’t fall into a crisis again.
The five-year projection is called a “rolling budget” because a lot can change in those years, said Powell. In fact, she expects finances to continue on an upswing.
“We’re expecting growth,” Powell said. “Revenue will increase.”
And just how will that happen?
Powell said one main thing working in favor of Hamtramck and the region is no economic recession is expected to take place, which will allow for economic growth.
Powell said the city will be aggressively seeking economic development and attracting businesses to locate here.
Plus, with a citywide assessment about to take place this summer, the city expects to see more property taxes collected.
“It’s going to be a multi-prong approach,” Powell said.
According to her projections, the city’s tax collection will increase from $5.7 million to $6 million by 2019-20.
Despite these expected increases, the city will cut into its budget surplus by about $700,000.
The largest cost out of the city’s annual $16 million budget goes to public safety, which by the end of five years will amount to $7 million a year for the police and fire departments.
Another large cost goes toward maintaining the city’s pension fund, which will increase from $3.2 million to $4 million a year by 2019-20.
While Powell is upbeat about the city’s financial future, Councilmember Robert Zwolak, who has been with the city administration on and off since the 1980s, interprets this projection as being “pessimistic down the line.”
Zwolak and others on council were upset about not being included in drafting the five-year budget.
Councilmember Anam Miah said at a recent work session that the council did not even know a five-year budget had been drawn up.
He questioned what’s in it.
“Are you going to cut city hall in half? We want to be included,” Miah said when told about the budget projection.