“If the DDA administration is more competent that the city administration, then give DDA the whole city to run.”

I think it is wrong to segregate and reserve a portion of property tax revenues for one part of town. Downtown projects should go through the same capital budgeting process as every other captital project in the city. The point is not whether or not the particular people in the DDA are more competent that the city administration – it is that the city should have only one budget, not one for downtown, and another for the rest of us. Downtown parking projects should have to compete, for instance, with re-building the Stadium Blvd Bridge, street rebuilding, Argo Dam rebuiliding, etc. The rest of us don’t get to go to the head of the investment line due to where we live, neither should downtown. If their projects make the cut vs. the whole range of city projects, then fund them. if they don’t make the cut, postpone or cancel them.

If the DDA administration is more competent that the city administration, then give DDA the whole city to run. We should still have a single budget for the entire city, including downtown.

Actuarial projections used for the council retreat chart show fiscal year 2018 pension accrued liability of 576.9 million, valuation assets of 414.2 million and actual assets of 414.0 million. Projected fiscal year 2018 VEBA figures are 339.4 in accrued VEBA liability, 129.9 million in valuation assets and 129.8 million in actual assets. Both projections assume a 25% decline in value for fiscal year 2009 and a positive 7% return after that.

The actuarial projections show a fiscal 2009 contributions of 6.9 million for the pension and 13.9 for the VEBA. Projected fiscal year 2018 contributions are 25.0 million for the pension and 18.9 for the VEBA.

Of course it is going to be down this June although it may have come back some from the low point.

But again, the point is that Ann Arbor is still ahead of other cities and the county, etc. Most cities did not start the fiscal year with their pension account 100% funded.

From what I have been able to find out, most cities do not have a VEBA trust to pay for retiree health care and this is where other cities face the greatest long term danger. Ann Arbor’s VEBA has $50 million in it.

As I said above, even with 40% of the real estate not paying taxes
and after losing the city’s largest private employer, Ann Arbor is still doing better than other Michigan cities and certainly many county governments, including Washtenaw’s. And, the millage has not gone up.

You are correct, the pension fund will be down but as you note there is a “smoothing” that takes place and one would hope that in future years it will bounce back. I am hopeful for my own investments and yours too.

The city budget is online and they have been talking about it for months on CTN. It is not that hard to understand if one pays attention. The Chronicle is helpful too.

As someone who tries to stay informed, someone who reads the Free Press for statewide news as well as the local sources and who occasionally calls or writes someone at the city for clarification, I don’t get what you are talking about.

For instance, the county’s budget problem is way deeper than the city’s but I don’t here you complaining. The county was caught flat footed and they are looking at 20% cuts. This is not unusual in Michigan except that most places faced this three or four years ago.

Meanwhile Ann Arbor’s process looked to be orderly and they arrived at a budget without much hair pulling. Sure they are predicting some very painful cuts to come in the following year because there is nothing left to cut but it is all up front. It does not appear to me that they are holding anything back.

What else could anyone expect for a city in this state?

The city lost its largest private employer a couple of years ago and a huge amount of the real estate in the city is non-taxable. But still, the millage has not gone up.

Compared to other Michigan cities, Ann Arbor is ahead of the game and I would not want to live anywhere else.

Pete Long

The budget shortfall the City projects are naive “best case” scenarios. Over the next year the “real” deficits will be “drip irrigated” to us and when we total them up I can only say “you ain’t seen nothing yet!