At the same time, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of trust of the county commissioners to do that. Maybe the whiff of “pet projects” is a part of that? There is a big difference between additional millage for mental health services that would otherwise be cut, for instance, and the 4-H. I fear that unless the programs that would get the millage money were clearly identified, non-controversial, and demonstrably essential, the knee-jerk “no new taxes” will win.

I think you are absolutely correct, but I’m not optimistic that the Board is capable of developing clear outcomes and articulating the community need in any meaningful way.

I’m not part of the knee jerk anti-tax crowd, but this is a tough sell in this economic climate and I suspect that most of the Commissioners are more interested in supporting their pet projects as Commissioner Bergman has demonstrated in her comment above.

How about last year there were 225 pregnant women who would have had healthy babies had we not steered them to Planned Parenthood for prenatal care and used funds confiscated from county taxpayers to pay for their abortions. Barbara, these children will not grow up to be tax paying citizens. We shouldn’t be forced to pay for Planned Parenthood no matter how much you and your fellow commissioners believe it to be a worthy charity. There will be many like me to work against such a millage, especially when we are already voting on millage increases for education and police and God only knows how much the health bill will end up costing or the next stimulus package. Aren’t there already enough foreclosures in the county?

Understand, we all receive public assistance. My kids attended tax supported schools, played in tax supported parks and were protected by tax supported law enforcement. Public health activities protected them as well.

Some of our citizens need more support that my husband and I did in order to raise productive citizens. This is why I intend to work to place a HUMAN SERVICES millage on our ballot. Current county tax revenues do not support current human needs of our fellow citizens.

The service needs are seen in our urban and rural communities. Substance use is endemic across Washtenaw County. Poverty is seen everywhere.

Budget technicalities have been explained above. I will go into them again.

Please support placing this HUMAN SERVICES MILLAGE on the ballot and urge your commissioner to acknowledge this need in this way. Then when we are successful in placing it on the ballot, work with all of us to see that it passes

It might also be interesting to see the breakdown of “donor communities” vs. “recipient communities” for such a millage. The general perception is that many of these are urban problems, but (as it is with the US in general), it may be that the urban centers are bigger donors than they are users of services. Does anyone know?

You have both voted multiple times to support giving taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood for a Children’s Well Being Program. In Margy Long’s post, the spokeswoman from Planned Parenthood, she stated that of the 350 pregnant women enrolled in their program last year, only 125 healthy babies were delivered. Yet they claim, year after year, that they meet their goals more than 99% of the time and the board has consistently increased the amount of tax dollars given to them. Margy stated that without the county funded program, these women would have to receive their prenatal care at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Isn’t that Medical Center one of the best in the state? Is there any evidence that Medicaid patients are receiving less than optimal care at U of M? Do either of you think that if the mother delivers her baby at the University of Michigan, or elsewhere in the state, that these births can’t be documented and included in their progress report? Do either of you think that it is possible that in 12 years of funding this program, that 75% of the mothers do not give birth during the calendar year, each and every year? Did either of you, in your role as Commissioner, ever think to ask Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading provider of abortions, to document the number of pregnant women referred to their program whose pregnancy was “voluntarily” terminated?

Since neither of you have given sufficient oversight to how our tax dollars have been spent on charity in the past, would you please consider letting county residents donate to the non-profits of their own choosing? Isn’t the job of handling all the county mandated services in this time of reduced revenue sufficiently difficult? Please reconsider your advocacy of an additional millage to mandate that all county residents donate to the charities of your choosing and let us donate our hard earned dollars where we believe they can best benefit our community.

Its frustrating because I don’t have any axe to grind with Commissioner Gunn, and in fact, I have always felt that she was one of the better and smarter local representatives.

I choose to post anonymously because I don’t wish to subject myself to anymore retribution from County folks. It has nothing to do with posting on AA Chronicle, and everything to do with my experience in County government.

I also would say…in my defense, I have posted respectful comments based on my experience and I haven’t attacked anyone. It is why I’m disappointed with her comments directed at me.