Ann Arbor Overview
May 26, 2015
Response from:
City Engineer, Project Management Services Unit, City of Ann Arbor
Response format: Phone interview
Where does funding come from?
In November, 2011, The City put a millage option on the ballot, which involved a unit of taxation collected from property taxes. â…› mill was needed to perform the needed repairs. The measure was passed by the voters and will remain in place for 5 years. $350,000 was generated from this millage.
How is it implemented?
Ann Arbor is now in the 4th year of the 5 year program. The City proactively seeks sidewalk problems, marks them physically on site, then contractors go out and do the repairs. The actual cost to collectively pay in to this mill levy is less costly to individual homeowners than if they paid on their own. All residents pay this, regardless of the need for repair. Homeowners who don’t have sidewalks pay too, in order to spread the burden.
How are repairs and maintenance sites prioritized?
After the millage passed, the City was divided up into sections, and each year repairs were made in roughly 20% of the City. So, by the end of the 5 year millage, the entire City will have been addressed.
Additional notes:
City contact does not believe that the millage would have gotten voter approval if voters did not have the previous experience of finding and paying for contractors individually.
Funds from a street millage were used to pay for overage because the sidewalk millage did not fund sufficiently. Both sidewalk and street millages were on the ballot at the same time.
The sequence on the ballot was: 1. Do you approve the street millage? 2. Then, if the street millage were approved by voters, would you approve the sidewalk millage? The ballot measure got a 60% voter approval for millage. Ann Arbor is seeing a positive difference in their 4th year of the millage and repair program.