FLINT -- Flint Emergency Financial Manager Ed Kurtz briefed the media on these talking points concerning where the city goes from here; now that the tax has been approved by voters.
By law, the millage must and will be used for police and fire protection.
The revenue from the millage is a part of the city’s overall Public Safety Plan which relies greatly on securing stable funding.
The need for stable police and fire funding was presented to Flint residents.
The city of Flint intends to use the millage as part of additional revenue to stabilize police and fire staffing over the next 5 years in a legal and fiscally responsible manner.
Providing support for the staffing of police and fire is the purpose of the millage.
The millage is intended to work in conjunction with the ordinance guaranteed 55.5% of the unrestricted general fund and any future grant funding to secure the protection of police and fire staffing.
The city is properly managing the millage revenue by carefully spreading the funds over a five year period, which is a responsible approach.
There is no danger of any millage money being misspent or lost as a result of a year-end surplus.
They city is not required to spend all of the millage funding in the fiscal year in which it is received, and it would be very irresponsible to do so.
It was made clear to voters that the millage was intended to improve and stabilize police and fire protection services, which is exactly what we are doing.
The law allows the city to establish a special revenue account to responsibly manage funds for police and fire protection over this period of time.
It would make little sense to have to have peaks and valleys of spending which would cause police and fire protection levels to dramatically change from year to year.
The plan for the millage, as outlined by the city of Flint, is what a fiscally responsible and financially sound plan should resemble.
The process to hire new police officers is underway with the full intention of backfilling positions left vacant by retirements, resulting in a positive change in our police officer staffing level.
We believe Flint residents want better and more stable police and fire protection.
The millage is an important step toward that goal, and the funding it will generate is critical to our public safety plan.
The residents of this community can be proud of their support for this effort and willingness to sacrifice to improve public safety.
