Mlive.com 08/01/12 Matt Vande Bunte
“Grand Rapids wants neighborhood funding option that
Mackinac Center for Public Policy labels a tax”
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The city is pushing for passage of a
state bill that would allow
neighborhoods in Grand Rapids and across Michigan to self-assess property owners for what a critic described as
“faddish projects such as pavilions, amphitheaters, snow-melt systems and
surveillance equipment.”
The Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy has
panned the proposed Neighborhood
Enhancement Act as a tax increase. But supporters see the bill as a way for
neighborhoods to invest in their own future at a time when public resources are
limited.
“We must have done something right because the Mackinac
Center already doesn’t like it,” said Eric DeLong, deputy city manager. “This has got support of many neighborhood
associations here. If they want to do (a special assessment), they can.
This is totally self-determination."
The bill would allow
a neighborhood improvement district to form and levy a special assessment on
property owners for several purposes. Among the permitted uses of the
money: buy property for a park or improve an existing park, operate
recreational programs or facilities, upgrade sidewalks and install improvements
such as street lighting and snow-melt systems, build or improve public spaces
such as plazas and pavilions, fund crime prevention and surveillance, enforce
property maintenance code, demolish blighted buildings, pay for community
planning and promotional activities, add and maintain public parking.
The bill’s primary sponsor, state Rep. Joe Haveman,
R-Holland, was not immediately available for comment. State Rep. Brandon
Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, a co-sponsor, said the law would permit people “to pool
their resources in a particular neighborhood to have a little more control”
over their own destiny.
Common Sense Review
Ah it must be great to the right hand of the devil than to
be in his path. Neighborhood Association
at 501(c)3 Tax –exempt corp. like Goodwill and the Planned Parenthood. I live in Midtown Neighborhood Ass. and have been banned due my disagreement with the
crime prevention coordinator. We were informed
we were not allowed to participate in any Midtown activities. When my husband complaint via email to
Midtown, they sent the police to our
house on Friday of Polaski Weekend.
Now Rep. Brandon Dillion and Grand Rapids Deputy City
Manager Eric DeLong wants to give these same neighborhood ass. authority over
property taxes and power to use the funds for whatever they want.
The dictatorship of Grand Rapids has maxed out income tax
and property now they are encourage passing legislation allowing Neighborhood
Ass. to tax the people…
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