The Review Magazine May / June 2021

budget. After announcing its closure, GM decided to retool the factory as its first dedicated electric vehicle plant, to open later this year. But Angerer said the shutdown and retooling will result in a two-year revenue gap to the city. Water and sewer revenues also plunged because many people stopped paying their bills after the state enacted a water shutoff moratorium last year. The ban on water shutoffs expired on March 31. The city also collected no revenue from traffic and building code enforcement for several months last year. And many Hamtramck residents didn’t file city income taxes last year because of confusion over the state’s personal income tax filing extension. Angerer said the city is in the process of trying to collect the overdue taxes. Pension Pressure On the other side of the ledger, Hamtramck was facing a whopping $7 million pension payment to the Michigan Employees’ Retirement System this year, an amount equal half the city’s general fund budget. Tough negotiations with MERS resulted in the city being allowed to stretch out the payments over several years. But without additional revenue, the city will have a difficult time making the payments, Angerer said. “There’s nothing left to give,” she said. In March, a divided city council approved putting a 10.5 mill proposal to fund police and fire pensions on the August ballot. The city currently levies 0.5 mills for police and fire pensions, but that brings in only about $100,000, far below the $2 million needed annually to fund pensions. Voters overwhelmingly

defeated the same proposal last November, but Angerer said the city somehow must raise more money to meet pension obligations. “This problem is not going away,” she said. Replacing Lost Income Taxes Angerer said she’s counting on increased revenue sharing from the state and aid from the Legislature to replace lost city income tax money. Hamtramck also stands to receive about $2 million from the federal $1.9 trillion stimulus plan signed by President Joe Biden in March. But that federal infusion of cash would still leave the city with about $750,000 less in general fund revenue than it generated in 2019. And the extra money cannot be used to bolster pensions. Still, Angerer said she’s confident that Hamtramck will survive the fiscal nosedive exacerbated by COVID-19. Increased state and federal aid, an improving economy and the GM plant coming back on line should improve the city’s finances. “Hopefully we can stay afloat long enough for the GM plant to become fully functioning here,” she said. Angerer, a former state representative from Monroe, said she took the Hamtramck city manager position in part because of a strong connection to the city. Her mother was from Hamtramck and she was married there. “I like fixing things. That’s kind of what I was known for in the Legislature,” she said. She’s found the right job for those skills in Hamtramck.

Rick Haglund is a freelance writer. You may contact him at 248.761.4594 or haglund.rick@gmail.com.

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