A Special Invitation

We have been finding it difficult to find a location near Detroit.  Leon's Family Dining, where we have our membership meetings, has agreed to lend us his banquet room.  I had indicated that I would ask everyone to purchase something.  You can have dinner, desert  or just a cup of coffee. The meeting is at 7:00 pm on February 22 at 23830 Michigan Ave.  We have reduced our $2.00 donation to $1.00 on this occasion.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call 313-278-8383. If you are unable to attend look on our website for our other scheduled seminars. http://www.wctaxpayers.org/.

Don't Miss the Boat

The time is now to learn how to appeal your assessment. The Comsumer price Index has increased 1.7% (inflation) but your home value has continued to decline. Many people can not afford to hire someone to appeal for them and that is why we have designed a seminar that teaches how to do it yourself.
If nothing else, it will give you the tools to find out if it is worth your while to hire someone else to do it.

You will have to be on the defensive for several years to come, when it comes to your financial security. Take the time to secure what is the biggest investment for most people - your home.

Go to our website  for a location nearest you. We will be adding additional locations through the end of the month.  

While your at it, stock up on some food and paper products. Inflation is expected to increase. Anything you can buy and keep now will save you money in the future.

It Is Time to Prepare to Appeal Your Assessment

Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and the Wayne County Taxpayers Association are about to start scheduling our state tour on How to Appeal Your Property Assessment. The housing market across the state is tanking. Foreclosuresare up for nonpayment of mortgages.They are also up for non payment of taxes. Since the State

has changed the rules to allow foreclosure after two years of nonpayment of taxes, many people have lost
their lifetime investment due to job loss or wage cuts. This is a buyer’s market if you can find someone to finance you. Home prices are dropping so they can be sold and be affordable. Tax increases are expected to
be requested at all levels of government.

Many people chose to ignore their right to appeal their SEV (State Equalized Value), which should be half of the true cash value,because they are being taxed at the Taxable Value which was capped with the passage of Proposal A in 1994. This limited the taxable value increases to the rate of inflation or 5% which ever is less. Property Values have dropped so much that it is almost advantageous for everyone to appeal their assessment.

Remember, the assessment cap is removed when the property changes ownership. New owners are
stuck paying taxes based on the State Equalized Value.

Don’t forget, if you live in the City of Detroit, you must first appeal to the Board of Assessors before mid February to appeal to the Board of Review in March. Everyone else should call their city or township and inquire when their Board of Review will be meeting. Make sure you do the work necessary to make a successful appeal. You should be able to get sales that have occurred in your area from a local real estate office or the city assessor. You should also be able to see the SEV of other houses in your area and the worksheet they keep on your home to insure accuracy of information.

Please check our website in January for a list of the locations at which we will be presenting the seminars. For more information call 313-278-8383.  If you wish to sponsor a seminar please contact us.

Putting Things In Prospective

I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself. For a week and a half I have been coughing, wheezing, pulling every muscle in my body and feeling all around miserable. Then reality hit. Was I doing this with no roof over my head? Did I have food to build up my strength? Where the antibiotics that I took working? Did I need to worry about my family? Did I have to worry about these things next week? Did I have small children looking forward to Christmas?

It sure is easy to close off things going on around you and become self involved. There is no questions that others do not have the benefits that I have. Our soldiers give up much for us. They endure many hardships so that I can have the life that I have. They are away from their families at the time of year I am closest to mine.

Then, there are the citizens who have given up their time and money to come together as a group to show their support for our country, and way of life, through rallies, tea parties and demonstrations with patriotic fervor dedicated to preserve our history and greatness as a country.

We can  not forget those who are elected to office. Those who stick to their principles and dedication to good government. Those that defy the urge to go along to get along.

I hope you will celebrate these things with us at the 2nd Annual  MI taxpayers Alliance and WC Taxpayers Association Awards Banquet. For more information, click below.

Buy tickets online here

or mail a check to:

MI Taxpayers Alliance

46116 Lookout Drive

Macomb, MI 48044

(Please make notation “banquet” on your check)

Awarding Those Who Do a Good Job

 

It is really important to award people who do a good job.  The four people we have decided to award at the 2nd Annual Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and Wayne County Taxpayers Association Award Banquet have several thing in common.  They are intelligent, well versed and, most of all, trustworthy. We will have a Post Mortem award for Chet Zarko. Chet was known as the original Michigan conservative blogger. Zarko Research and Consulting was a Michigan-based political, marketing, and design service run by freelance investigative writer Chetly Zarko. In mid July Chet passed away at the young age of 39 and it was a huge loss to to everyone.  Those on the right and the left respected him and trusted him.
He pulled the original FOIAs that led to the discovery of the False Tea Party Group.

Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) is a standard bearer for fiscal conservatism in the state House. He is also widely recognized as the de facto minority leader opposing House Democrats’ plans to increase the cost and power of government for the past two years in Lansing. Rep. McMillin stood up to help lead battles against Obamacare, against corporate welfare, against excessive spending, and for transparency in government spending.

Joe Lehman, President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, for the Center’s new e-newsletter, Capitol Confidential.Have you heard of Capitol Confidential? The Mackinac Center created ‘Cap Con’ to fill the void left by lazy and/or biased news media and, boy, have they! A rapidly growing number of citizens turn to this online news source every day for updates on government policy and investigative journalism that exposes government corruption. Cap Con isn’t a blog. It isn’t opinion. It is real, hard-hitting investigative journalism on behalf of taxpaying citizens.

Jason Gillman was the epitome of the ‘tea party activist’ in 2010. He blogs for Right Michigan website where he helped expose the fraudulent “Tea Party” political trick that was attempted by the MI Democratic Party. Gillman’s  was instrumental in keeping the fake Democrat Party Tea Party off the ballot this past November. In addition, Jason Gillman was a leader organizing tea party rallies and protests in Traverse City that played a key role in pushing Congressman Bart Stupak toward retirement.

Please join us. These men have done so much more for us and if you checked there work they were always right on.  If we fail to recognize people like this, they and their families will never know how much we appreciate them.

Buy tickets online here

or mail a check to:

MI Taxpayers Alliance

46116 Lookout Drive

Macomb, MI 48044

(Please make notation “banquet” on your check)

2nd Annual MTA and WCTA Awards Banquet

2nd Annual

Michigan Taxpayers Alliance

and

Wayne County Taxpayers Association
Awards Banquet

What a year! We witnessed a genuine citizen uprising that involved many new activists who stepped up to protest and volunteer for campaigns. Time to celebrate a new beginning for taxpayers and recognize some inspiring individuals for their terrific work on behalf of taxpayers. You are invited to attend the 2nd annual Michigan Taxpayers Alliance Awards Banquet and join with taxpayers from across Michigan on Friday, December 17th in Troy.

Kick off the holiday season with a celebration of hope and renewal by attending this year’s banquet. Over 200 activists attended last year’s Banquet, and this year we have more to celebrate and hope for.

Tickets are $40 per person, $75 per couple and include dinner, beer and wine, and the opportunity to meet our special guests. A private reception ($100, which includes the dinner) precedes the banquet.

Who: You!

What: The 2nd Annual MTA and WCTA Awards Banquet

Where: American-Polish Cultural Center (click for map) at 2975 E. Maple Road (15 Mile Rd. in Troy located at the N.W. corner of Maple Road and Dequindere.

When: Friday, December 17th at 6:30PM for Banquet guests. Private reception begins at 5:30.

See you at the Banquet!
Leon Drolet
MI Taxpayers Alliance

Buy tickets online here

or mail a check to:

MI Taxpayers Alliance

46116 Lookout Drive

Macomb, MI 48044

(Please make notation “banquet” on your check)

Meet this year’s award winners:

Taxpayer Hero of the Year: State Representative Tom McMillin

Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) is a standard bearer for fiscal conservatism in the state House. He is also widely recognized as the de facto minority leader opposing House Democrats’ plans to increase the cost and power of government for the past two years in Lansing. Rep. McMillin stood up to help lead battles against Obamacare, against corporate welfare, against excessive spending, and for transparency in government spending.

Voice of the Taxpayer: Joe Lehman, President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, for the Center’s new e-newsletter, Capitol Confidential

Have you heard of Capitol Confidential? The Mackinac Center created ‘Cap Con’ to fill the void left by lazy and/or biased news media and, boy, have they! A rapidly growing number of citizens turn to this online news source every day for updates on government policy and investigative journalism that exposes government corruption. Cap Con isn’t a blog. It isn’t opinion. It is real, hard-hitting investigative journalism on behalf of taxpaying citizens.

Taxpayer Activist of the Year: Jason Gillman

Jason Gillman was the epitome of the ‘tea party activist’ in 2010. He blogs for Right Michigan website where he helped expose the fraudulent “Tea Party” political trick that was attempted by the MI Democratic Party. Gillman’s research was instrumental in keeping the fake Democrat Party Tea Party off the ballot this past November. In addition, Jason Gillman was a leader organizing tea party rallies and protests in Traverse City that played a key role in pushing Congressman Bart Stupak toward retirement.



"Liberty is to precious a thing to be burried in books"

The election is almost upon us.  No matter what the results, we can not give up. Just like in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, we need to realise how important and wonderful this American experiment has been. It is something we all should be willing to fight for and preserve.

Today, we have tools on hand to make it easier to get support and communicate with others. The Mackinac Center put together a video from a conference on new media that is very interesting to watch. It is also available on our web page. Those of us who have been around for a while defending our way of life, can testify that getting things organized now and communicating with like minded individuals is a lot easier with modern technology.

What is the same is our need to affirm the correctness of freedom, liberty, and choice.  As government has gradually become more and more intrusive in our life, we sometimes fail to recognize that we are losing our ability to exercise those inalienable rights, which were endowed by our Creator and not the government.  We need to keep reminding those we elect to represent us, that their job is to represent us and not to make laws for their convenience or personal gain.

People have poured into this country to experience the opportunities this country allows. Slowly we are letting these opportunities slip away.  The recent wake  up call of the Tea Party, I hope, has reversed our decline.  We can not forget what a blessing we have in this country and the need to defend her with everything in our power. Freedom is not free. It requires our constant vigilance. I count on you to help me keep watch.

S O S (Save Our State)

It is getting close. The first of the two most important elections of the century are coming. It is our responsibility to save our state and our country. Please join us on Saturday, October 16, from 4-6 pm at the Schoolcraft Community College gym in Livonia to show your support of candidates that will help us make a difference. Electing the right candidate may effect apportionment, control in the house and senate and the intention to go back to the principles of the founding fathers.

Controlling spending and reducing the deficit are imperative to the future of this country and the future of our children. We are happy that conservatives are now allowed to come out of the closet and into the light. Creeping socialism is destroying the opportunity of our country to compete. The uncertainty in our economy is reducing the opportunity for our children to succeed and, for the the first time, a life that is better than their parents.

There will also be to conservative candidates running for the Michigan Supreme Court, Justice Young and Judge Kelly. If elected we can count on them to interpret the Constitution and not legislate from the bench.

Come and say hello at our table.

United Nations Nonsense

What an oxymoron. The United Nations is anything but united. Every time we get involved with them we get the short end of the stick. It is not bad enough that we pay most of the freight, we now have less and less influence. I don't know about you but I am getting sick and tired of getting taken advantage of and having to stand there and take it.

That is why I have placed a link to the National Association for Gun Rights petition on the Wayne County Taxpayers Association website. I know that in these hard times you may not choose to make a contribution, but please sign the petition.

I used to laugh at people who talked about one world government. No more. The crashing of the money supply around the world due to debt and greed has me convinced that at least some people are working together and not for our benefit. Control should come from the people not the other way around.

Never Give Up

November is fast approaching and while we think we might know what will happen, we can not be sure. The one thing we can be sure of is that if we do not make changes we will be in worse trouble than we are in already.

I keep hearing people ask if the Tea Parties can make it all the way to November. I have news for those people. We have to be committed to be there long after the election.

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
--Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4,1777

Throughout history, you will find similar comments made by people who others have labeled great minds. It is not coinsidence that they have come to the same conclusion. Their analysis is based on common sense and observation.

The Tea Parties may seem ragtag at times but that is because they are not made up of polished politicians. They are made up of people who love their county and their way of life and are afraid they are losing it. While I am not one to trust the mainstream media for their acuracy, there was a survey done by CBS that was pretty extensive. The Tea Party members are not made up of the faint of heart. For that, I thank God.

An American Model

Emery McClendon at RightOnline 2010 from AFPhq on Vimeo.

The first time I met Emery McClendon I thought he was sort of a quiet guy. Boy was I wrong. I met him three years ago at the Americans For Prosperity, Defending the American Dream Conference. We shared ideas and at the end of the conference, because there were few from Indiana attending, he came with the Michigan delegation to a revolving restaurant on top of a hotel for dinner. We shared more thoughts and exchanged email addresses and have been communicating since.

This man has impressed me greatly. His dedication to this country through his service, his willingness to speak out, his sincerity and determination have impressed me permanently.

He does what we should all be doing in these difficult times. We need to be fighting to hold on to the thing hat have made America Great.

Americans For Properity Dreams Again

I am blogging to you from AFP's "Defending the American Dream Conference" in Washington D C. Great speakers and breakout sessions today. This morning we heard from, among others, Dick Morris, author and Fox News Contributer and Herman Cain, radio host and commentator.

Before and after the speakers were breakout sessions covering everything from soup to nuts. Six sessions with four choices to choose from in each session. Things like economics, media, repealing Obamacare, free speech, global warming, and on and on.

During the "Tribute to Ronald Reagan Dinner", we heard from, among others, George Will conservative columnist and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

I also got to see old friends who have moved on and out of Michigan. All and all a good event with over 2500 people attending.

Tomorrow is the "Restoring Honor Rally" at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial which was called by Glen Beck of Fox News. It should be interesting.

The DROP Shell Game

Which nut has your money?



Please pass this on to those you know in Dearborn Heights.

Dear Taxpayer:

As a resident of Dearborn Heights you may be aware that in 1965 the voters adopted PA 345 of 1937, which allows for a millage in order to pay for police and fire personnel retirement benefits. Over the years, generous contracts with the promise of exceptional retirement benefits have been negotiated for Dearborn Heights police and fire personnel and the taxpayers have shouldered the costs for those benefits based on the vote of residents in 1965.

IF YOU DON’T WANT YOUR PROPERTY TAXES TO INCREASE PLEASE READ BELOW AND TAKE ACTION!

Please pass this along to your neighbors.

Scott Hagerstrom
State Director-Michigan
Americans For Prosperity
www.michiganafp.com

Background:

Three years ago during contract negotiations the City agreed to what is known as a DROP program (deferred retirement option plan). This program encourages police and fire personnel who are nearing retirement age to take an early retirement, thus moving the liability for their benefits off the regular City personnel budget and to the taxpayers through the police and fire millage provisions in PA 345. Once the burden of these employees’ benefits are moved off the City of Dearborn Heights’ books, the city frequently rehires the same personnel back as contractors.

The intent of PA 345 was to continue to support our city’s heroes once they have retired. That’s not what is happening today. Today, the City of Dearborn Heights is playing a shell game with your hard-earned tax dollars to fund EXISTING police and fire personnel benefits so they can make room on the city’s books for other expenditures.
In other words, while everyone else is figuring out ways to make the hard decisions in their personal budgets during this painful recession, the clever politicians at the City of Dearborn are simply moving liabilities off their books at the expense of the taxpayers through a loophole and NOT asking the taxpayers if they’re willing to support this.

Add to that the fact that in a down economy the investments and interest payments to the PA 345 funds are low, meaning the taxpayers must put more in to fund the liabilities. The millage this year alone increased by $2.30 for every $1000 in taxable property value, and because the recently arbitrated contract extends the DROP programming that millage rate is certain to continue to increase.

What does all of this mean in the real world? Former City of Taylor Mayor Cameron Priebe estimated that the PA 345 provision in their city meant that each retiree currently costs the taxpayers of Taylor more than $4.5 million (they currently have around 100 police and fire retirees). In Taylor, residents paid 1.2 mills in 1979 to support the PA 345 provisions; today they pay 6 mills and that number is expected to increase substantially. What does that mean in dollars and cents? A single resident in the City of Taylor with property valued at $150,000 will pay $450 this year just to support the police and fire retiree benefit provision of PA 345.

We MUST reign the liability of this fund in NOW. We can continue to support the retirements of the men and women who risk their lives to protect us within the provisions of PA 345, but the City of Dearborn Heights MUST get their house in order and stop using loopholes to shift the liability of the non-retired police and fire workforce to a millage provision.

Tell Dearborn Heights Mayor Daniel Paletko that you will support a referendum to repeal PA 345 if the DROP program is allowed to continue.

You can contact the Mayor of Dearborn Heights, Daniel Paletko, and city council in the following ways:
E-mail: dpaletko@ci.dearborn-heights.mi.us

Regular mail: City of Dearborn Heights
6045 Fenton
Dearborn Heights, MI 48127-3294
Telephone: (313) 791-3490
Facsimile: (313) 791-3491
Kenneth R. Baron
Council Chair
(313) 565-0420
FAX (313) 565-9184
(313) 791-9924
Janet Badalow
Chair Pro-Tem
(313) 791-9923 mailto:dh4badelow@comcast.net
Elizabeth Agius
(313) 791-9922
Tom Berry
(313) 563-6100
(313) 791-9925
Marge Horvath
(313) 791-9927
Margaret Van Houten
(313) 791-9928
Roy Pilot
(313) 274-4205

Vote Early and Often

It seems that every time I go to the Wayne County website they have redone it. That means I have to look all over the place to find out what they did with everything. I wonder if it is a bureaucratic plot or just a bunch of IT people with nothing else to do.

I'm getting real excited. We have a week and a half until the primary. For those of you who live in Wayne County, you should check out the Wayne County Clerks office for the ballot information.

Don't forget there is a SMART millage proposal for the tricounty area. In Wayne County it reads:

WAYNE COUNTY TRANSIT AUTHORITY MILLAGE RENEWAL
If approved, this proposal shall renew in 2010 the 0.59 mill levied by the Wayne County Transit Authority and allow continued support to the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, serving the elderly, handicapped, and general public of Wayne County.


Shall the tax imposed on taxable property in the Wayne County Transit Authority area which expired with the 2009 tax, be levied for four (4) years, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, inclusive, at 0.59 mill (59 cents per $1,000 taxable value), for the purpose of making contributions in aid of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) and its purpose of serving the elderly, handicapped and general public in the County of Wayne? It is estimated that 0.59 mill would raise approximately $12,158,000 when levied in 2010.

Yes __
No __

As a renewal it will levied subject to the Headlee rollback. If they had wished to ask for the original millage they would have had to ask for an increase to levy the whole millage. That is the reason they do not want to let it expire.

The primary is very important. This is where we separate the fruits from the nuts. November will be successful only if we pick the right people and don't leave it to the special interests who always show up. Make it a point to inform yourself and vote armed with more information than the flier on your door. Our future as a country and as a state depends on it.

Closing the Government Gap

So often I feel just like the guy who fell off that cliff and that government is on the other side. I guess most of us want to believe that government is trying to help, only to find that some trick or incompetence is found where our trust was placed. We keep grabbing that rope only to find that they have dropped it.
When they try to give us a band aid to fix it they make it worse.

President Reagan was right when he said " Government can't fix the problem - government is the problem." As government grows, our influence is diminished. It is less a government of, by and for the people and more a government which controls the people. That is why I am looking forward to November. I am hopeful that the people of this country are finally waking up. I hope that they will replace those in congress and even those in local government who have been there too long and who have helped to grow government beyond our financial ability and practical need.

Should we fail to make a significant change in November, we can not give up. It has taken decades to get us to this position. It will not be easy to reverse the situation the first time. That is why we can not let ourselves get discouraged.

I have faith in the American people. I know that when they realise what is happening to our country they will stand up as they have in the past. Americans have never sherked their responsibilities nor have they been cowards when called upon.

This Video Says So Much

When I was thinking about what I could say about those who have given so much for our country and her people, I received this video in an email. I am grateful every day for those who have had the courage to to stand up for our freedom and have done so much. I am also reminded that we have a responsibility to remember and honor those dead and alive. We have to insure that their effort have not been in vane.

Remembering is not enough. We must do our duty as citizens to ensure that freedom rings from coast to coast. We have an obligation to preserve our way of life and defend our nation against enemies foreign and domestic as well. Maybe we will not be required to use a gun, but we have other responsibilities which must be met.

Remember and pray for them and our country today and everyday.

21st Century Education

by John Connolly

Despite much good news on the economic front, tens of thousands of teachers are being given pink slips nationwide, over 2000 in Detroit alone. Is that worth a front-page story in the New York Times? Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bob has rooted out tens of millions of dollars in embezzlement, fraud and theft from the Detroit School system. You’d think the Times would find that worthy of reporting.

When I was growing up, funding for public schools was by local property taxes. School districts were able to accurately forecast how much money they’d need to support their programs and how much would be available for the next school year. At that time, the public schools were owned, operated, and controlled locally. The quality of education in the public schools of the United States was second to none.

In many of Michigan’s urban areas and in some of our more remote rural areas the increases in property values (and property taxes) did not keep pace with those in other areas. Progressives decided that it wasn’t fair that rich school districts should spend more on education than their poorer neighbors. Most Americans agreed with that view. Using the state lottery as a funding device, the State decided which schools were under-funded and gave money to districts that were not collecting enough in property taxes to support quality education. The State then demanded an important role in dictating what should be taught, when it should be taught, and how it should be taught. The State’s intrusion into the business of public education now encompasses when school should (or should not) start, when sex education should start (and what it should include), what classes in diversity should be included and how much math is two year’s worth.

Of course, more state funding also meant less certainty of when and how much state money was going to be available, and what strings were going to be attached. Public schools began the annual ritual of pink slipping a fairly large percentage of employees, knowing that many of them would probably be rehired in the fall. Some of them found another line of work. The quality of education in our schools began to drop off.

As the quality of education in our schools deteriorated, education lobbies and our enlightened administration decided that we needed to “invest” more money in education. The Federal government, under the wise counsel of President Jimmy Carter, created the Department of Education, which has now grown to an annual budget of upwards of $20 billion and more than 20,000 federal employees (not including contract personnel). Federal expenditures on education, training employment and social services increased under the previous administration from $57 billion in 2001 to $91 billion in 2008, and are estimated at $135 billion for 2010. The No Child Left Behind Act provided the largest increase ever in federal education funding, yet most of the money that it provided was swallowed up by the bureaucracy created to manage it, with little of it finding its way to failing schools or failing students. Our schools continued to deteriorate.

Despite the infusion of state and federal money into our schools, educational quality continues to fall further behind the Indian, Chinese, and many European countries in all standard educational measurements.

Instead of continuing to transfer wealth from those that produce it to favored constituencies, we need to begin to behave as though we’re truly concerned about the effect of the more than $1.3 trillion federal deficits of 2009 and 2010.

Declaring You Freedom Can Be Fun

Isn't it wonderful? You can have fun and sign the petition for Healthcare Freedom at the same time. We will be at the Dearborn Heights Spirit Festival and the Livonia Spree collecting signatures and your petitions.

Dearborn Heights Spirit Festival, 1801 Beech Daly, 1/2 block south of Ford Rd.

Wednesday, June 9, 5:00 to 10:00 pm
Thursday, June 10, 5:00 to 10:00 pm
Friday, June 11, 5:00 to 10:00 pm
Saturday, June 12, 2:00 to 10:00 pm
Sunday, June 13, 2:00 to 10:00 pm


Please come and enjoy yourself Friday or Saturday at the Livonia Spree event days held at Ford Field at the corner of Farmington Road and Lyndon.A limited amount of parking is available on the Spree grounds. Take Stark Road north off the I-96 service drive. Handicapped Take Stark Road north off the I-96 service drive. The police will provide direction to the handicapped parking area. Handicap permit is required. Ample parking is available at Livonia City Hall. The free Shuttle Service will operate during Spree hours of operation

FRIDAY JUNE 25, 2010 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
SATURDAY JUNE 26, 2010 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Please come and sign the petition and bring your registered family and friends.

History Repeats Itself

At times I identify with Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to repeat forever the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again.

I think it was 1983 the first time I asked the Attorney General's office to enforce the Uniform Budgeting Act in Wayne County and demand that they abide by the Constitution and balance their budget. At that time they could not because they did not find they were in violation. They were not using standard accounting practices and no one could figure out their budget.

An audit was conducted and they could still not figure out what they were doing. The State developed the five year plan for balancing the budget. This kind of plan has been used over and oveer again. They switched to standard accounting pactices but that was not the last time no one cound figure out what was going on. At what point can we expect Wayne County to be accountable to the law. Poor services, excessive salaries and contracts, corruption, and mismanagement, are not reasons to give them a pass.

I don't care if the executive branch, the commission or the unions take the responsibility. I want the law enforced. Not only is the county facing a $105 million deficit in a $558 operating budget out of control but their unfunded liabilities are unsustainable. Their $2.1 billion dollar overall budget is down 6.4% since 2000. The County has also lost population,according to the estimates.

The Ways and Means Committee Chair, Edward Bioke, says they will be taking action soon. Do not include a tax increase in your deliberations commissioners - we are not in the mood and it is beyond our ability.

BREAKING: Fake Tea Party Run by Democrats in Michigan Trying to Become official Third Party!

BREAKING: Fake Tea Party Run by Democrats in Michigan Trying to Become official Third Party!