In our opinion … Taxpayers’ money is going down the drain

Let’s all take a deep breath for a moment, and absorb the earth-shaking decisions our mayor and city council took this week regarding the city manager, police chief and a police investigator.
By now, most folks have likely heard that they were fired.
We will dig deeper into that in the coming weeks, but what sticks out to us this week is the absurd cost to taxpayers to foot the bill for a legal firm to conduct an investigation into the three.
Specifically, the price tag is already over $300,000 and will likely end up costing us closer to $500,000.
Instead of trusting City Manager Max Garbarino, who was cited for what we think are minor missteps in the handling of an investigation into the police chief, the mayor and council sought out a high-priced legal firm to conduct an internal investigation.
As you would assume, all three city officials involved in the investigation have strong objections to the report’s findings – something that will surely play out in the courts, again likely at taxpayers’ further expense.
The money spent so far on the investigation is just one part of what else is happening.
On top of the cost of this internal investigation, the mayor and council also recently decided not to renew the city’s contract with a parking meter company, a decision that will end up in the loss of $200,000 a year in revenue for the city.
Admittedly, the parking meter system was a failure, but the mayor and council didn’t bother to find an alternative system.
That’s a total cost of about $700,000 just for these two issues.
These elected officials have been reckless caretakers of the public’s money, and have given zero thought about Hamtramck’s financial future.
And this is all because they think they run the city, instead of relying on the city manager to conduct the city’s business.
We pity property owners here because it’s looking more and more likely they’ll end up footing the city’s bills through increases in property taxes.
Folks, this is why our elected officials – some of whom may not even really live here, and some of whom may have violated election law to get elected — should trust their city manager and get out of the way.
Posted Aug. 29, 2025