Residents Could 'Conceivably' Petition for Farmington Public Safety Millage

residents who oppose a move to contract with the for  may be able to take their case to voters. 

City manager Vince Pastue said residents could "conceivably petition that, in the form of a charter referendum." Amending the city's charter would require signatures from at least 25 percent of the city's registered voters. (Read Section 7.11 in the city charter, available on-line, for more details about the petition process.)

The city's last petition drive was launched in 2008 by opponents of bonds that paid for the streetscape project in downtown Farmington. Their question went before voters, who overwhelmingly approved the bond issue. 

To create a separate funding source for public safety would require about 11 mills, Pastue estimated. The city currently levies 15 mills overall, and he said that amount would have to be adjusted if a separate public safety millage is approved, whether for the entire operation or just dispatch and inmate housing.

"You could slice and dice it a number of different ways," he said. 

that public safety millages have worked in other communities, most notably in Farmington Hills, where residents last fall approved . Concerns over moving dispatch and inmate housing to Farmington Hills include increased response times, reduction in services and having Farmington officers off the streets for longer periods of time as they travel farther to process the people they arrest.  

Pastue has said he is opposed to creating a public safety millage. Currently, the city operates with a road millage for construction and a general operating millage. 

"In a small city, with our employees, everybody knows everybody. We all work together," he said, adding he doesn't want to see that sense of "we're all in this together" become "fragmented". 

"In many ways, I think that's been much of our success," he said. "Putting everybody in a silo, I'm not sure that helps with that small town atmosphere." 

Farmington city council members are expected to vote on an interlocal agreement with the City of Farmington Hills on April 16. To contact city officials about the issue, find their email addresses and phone numbers posted on the city's website, under the "Reference" heading. Read what Mayor Tom Buck had to say about this issue .