Macomb County Charter Promises Wayne County (not Oakland County) Results

Residents of Macomb County will be asked to vote on a new County Charter on Tuesday November 3rd, that among other things, will include the creation of a county executive. Macomb is the third largest county in the state of Michigan and is one of three major counties in metropolitan Detroit; the only without a county executive. Proponents of the charter suggest that it will give Macomb the political clout of Oakland and Wayne County.

A Detroit Free Press editorial supporting the charter suggest that passing the charter (by voting YES on Proposal 1 and 2) will create "more efficient, effective and accountable government" for the citizens of Macomb County. Here's what the editorial doesn't tell you: voting for the Macomb County Charter means less representation, higher taxes and a larger, less efficient county government.

Concerned citizens in Macomb County have been organizing to stop these proposals from being adopted. Bonnie Hayter, founder of Taxpayers Against Bloated Government (a group organizing to opposes the Charter), has voiced concern over the overwhelming authority placed in the hands of a new county executive. She writes in a letter to the editor:

The charter states, that if the executive vetoes something, it takes a 2/3rds vote of the commissioners serving to override the veto. That means, as long as the county executive has “5 friends” on the 13 member board of commissioners, the other 8commissioners cannot override any decision by the executive. Therefore, any appointments, new departments, directors of departments, officials, and so on and so forth, made by the executive are under the complete and total control of one executive and “5 friends”. A new level of bureaucracy without representation is created. There will be less accountability because there will be more appointees than elected officials. The county executive and “5” commissioners will now wield control of the county.

Another primary objection to the Charter is that the voters of Macomb County are being asked to vote on something they know little about. An article in today's Macomb Daily by Gregory Murray explains this concern:

Charter: Vote "No" If You Don't Know

By Gregory Murray

The proposed Macomb County charter, as written, has many of what I call “dead zones” that justify voting no on November, 3, 2009. So many people have not read this charter that the anthem should be, “If you don’t know, vote no.” If it fails this time, the charter commission can (within 180 days) submit it to the voters again with all the dead zones removed. Let’s do right by getting it right.

What’s a charter dead zone? Giving powers to the Governor to remove the county executive; the only problem with that is that the Governor, by law, has no power to remove a county executive. Yet, it’s in a charter written by many seasoned lawyers; go figure.

The size of commission districts will double. A 100 percent increase in district size will make access to a commissioner problematic. Right now, each commissioner represents about 33,000 citizens. With the increase in population since 2000, that will change to approximately 70,000 plus. Ed Bruley, who worked hard to create the 26th commission seat in 2001, stated in an April 19, 2001 Macomb Daily article that, and I quote, “County commissioners are supposed to be close to the people they represent….If you have big districts, you get away from that.” Made sense then, and it makes sense now.

A huge dead zone is that the proposed charter does not clearly state that the 13 commissioners “shall be part-time,” There is no law preventing charter commissioners from attaching those four words. The county commissioners can later claim their districts are so large that they need to be full time AND need a staff. They should re-write that part.

Another dead zone is that there is no term limit attached to the county executive position. Three terms might be more than some can stomach, but to not put a limit on it means a politician could possibly hold that position forever (Ed McNamara comes to mind).

The charter creates a Public Defender’s Office. The PDO is in the charter without budget details. Where is the money coming from for the administrators of the PDO when the county is laying off workers, slashing services, and cutting county department budgets? If you don’t know, vote no.

The biggest dead zone is the power to adjust the property tax millage up from 4.56 to 5.19. There’s some slippery language in Sec.8.5.2 that everyone should read. Property owners beware: If you don’t know, vote no.

The charter also allows the commissioners to adjust the county executive’s salary 60 days after the charter goes into effect. Wait for it. There goes those so-called savings right out the window.

Again, voters can demand more clarity by voting no. A no vote does not doom the charter: it sends it back for more fine tuning. There are serious flaws in this charter that scream for attention. It can be re-submitted when it is fixed.

The only way to go, if you don’t know, is to vote no on November 3, 2009.

I am not a citizen of Macomb County, but the restructuring of their county government to adopt the content of this Charter is not in the interest of Macomb County taxpayers. The Oakland County model works because it includes political representation (with 25 county commission districts) and it has an dynamic and responsible leader like L. Brooks Patterson. If the Macomb Charter could produce Oakland County results, it would be a good decision; but it will not. The Charter promises to more closely resemble the bloated and inefficient government in Wayne County and possibly worse.

Politically speaking, the primary beneficiaries of the Charter will be Macomb County Democrats; who will likely dominate the commission and take the new county executive office. Voting for the Macomb County Charter is not only bad for Macomb County taxpayers, but likely destructive for Republicans in the county.