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Alpena County commissioners discuss budget cuts if proposed tax increase fails

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The Alpena County Board of Commissioners discusses budget cuts for the next fiscal year during a Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday. If the county’s proposed tax increase fails during next month’s election, the county Sheriff’s Office could be forced to cut $500,000, which would include deputies.

ALPENA — If Alpena County’s proposed tax increase fails during the Nov. 5 election, Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith could have to cut $500,000 from his 2025 budget, a county board committee said Tuesday.

The cuts to the Sheriff’s Office would likely include deputies and other staffing and could lead to the termination of 24-hour road patrol.

Smith said the cuts would be a blow to public safety in Alpena County if they are followed through.

Alpena County will ask voters to approve a four-year, 0.7-mill increase, which would help the county recapture about $800,000 a year. The proposal would cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $35 a year.

The Alpena County Board of Commissioners says that, if the tax proposal passes, the cuts can be avoided and the service residents receive now will continue.

Smith said that, if he is forced to cut half a million dollars from his department, it would impact everything and everyone. He said many of the services his staff offers would either be reduced or eliminated.

“This is going to be a tough task, and there is absolutely no way to cut this much money without going into jobs,” he said. “It is going to impact road patrol, jail operations, marine patrol, animal control, secretary services, search and rescue, everything.”

County commissioners expressed sorrow for having to take such drastic action, but said that, if nothing is done now, the cuts could be steeper and more painful in the future.

Commissioner Brenda Fournier, who pushed for cuts for several years, became emotional when she addressed the sheriff and residents of the county. She said all other options have been explored and, now, it comes down to the tax increase passing or cuts.

“It is a shame that it has to come down to the public safety of people, and I wish there was something else we could do,” Fournier said. “I’m not asking for anyone to vote for the millage. That is up to you. I do want you to know that this isn’t a scare tactic or crying wolf. This is where we are now, and there is no more kicking the can down the road.”

The county also intends to cut its funding for Michigan State University Extension and will not refill a vacant position in the commissioners’ office.

At Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, and a budget meeting that followed, the commissioners voted to use the remaining $862,102 uncommitted federal money the county received through the American Rescue Plan Act to reduce the budget deficit for this fiscal year, which in turn shrinks the 2025 budget deficit to a little over $500,000.

The county’s budget runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.

For years, the county has used pots of county money to stave off layoffs. It has emptied its budget stabilization fund, dipped into the tax revolving fund, and used nearly $4 million of the $5.5 million it received from ARPA to avoid cuts and reduce shortfalls.

The Nov. 5 ballot will be the second attempt the county has made this year to try to get a tax increase approved by voters.

The proposal would allow the county to override a section of state law known as “the Headlee amendment,” which says that, if the tax base of a local government is broadened, the tax rate levied on that base must be proportionally reduced — through what’s called a “Headlee rollback” — so property tax revenues increase no more than the rate of inflation. In simple terms, if taxable values go up, then the millage rate generally must be reduced, according to the state House Fiscal Agency.

The county lost property tax revenue because of the Headlee rollback as property values increased faster than inflation after the Great Recession.

With the ARPA money extinguished and few other places to increase revenue, further cuts in future years are not out of the cards if the property tax fails.

Also, the county’s savings have dipped to levels that will force layoffs if the county needs to dip into them to cover future shortfalls, Treasurer Kim Ludlow said.

“We have kicked this can down the road as far as we can,” Ludlow said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.

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