New Year promises to deliver a stronger and unified Hamtramck

Happy New Year!
Hamtramck certainly has quite a year to look forward to. The city just emerged from a financial crisis that required a state-appointed emergency manager to control the city for the last 18 months.
That EM has just left her post, and newly-hired City Manager Katrina Powell is now in charge.
As of now, the city has a balanced budget for the next two years, and there is even a modest surplus.
Powell has been spending her first few weeks getting up to speed. We are looking forward to hearing her plan for the city going forward.
One of her first tests will be building a relationship with the six city councilmembers and the mayor. The relationship between city officials and past city managers has not always been smooth.
What Powell has going for her is that the council was in agreement with her hiring. Let’s hope the honeymoon lasts throughout her tenure here.
Our public school district had its share of good news in the past year. Financially-speaking it has made huge strides in reducing its deficit and will likely produce a balanced budget by June.
The district has a challenge ahead in winning over voters to approve a tax renewal that is vital to the district. The good news for voters is that the tax does not apply to homeowners — only to those who own homes and rent them out.
We are optimistic that voters will make the right decision when the election comes next month.
And we are very excited about what the year 2015 will bring to all of us.