So how exactly are we going to pay for the 
community project? We are going to “borrow” the money from the water and sewer fund – in fact, they will be taking about half of the existing money from each of these two funds to pay for it. (See the city council packet from 4/8/19, page 46, laying out the repayment schedule and note that we won’t be finished paying for this until June 1, 2034.)
Do you know why this money was there, just calling out to the council? Because YOU put it there. Whenever you pay your water and sewer bill, you are forced to pay extra money to create these two funds. (If you think you aren’t forced to pay into these funds, try not paying your next bill and see what happens.) That money is supposed to be used for water- and sewer-related repairs, not “borrowed” for a project that a huge swath of the public said they did not want and from which they will see no benefit. Your city government is betting that there won’t be a need for this money over the next 15 years that it will take to pay it back, but who is to say that they are right? The sad truth is that many of the people pushing this through will not be alive 15 years from now, so what they’ve really done is spend now and leave the tab for the next generation.
But that’s how the baby boomers roll, isn’t it? YOLO!
Would you have preferred that the city do other things with your tax dollars that will benefit you (as opposed to primarily benefiting city employees and officials)? Even better, would you prefer the city cut expenses and lower your taxes? Would it surprise you to know that only 10.1% of our roads are rated as good, while 66.1% are rated as fair and 23.8% are rated as poor? (See 10-8-18 council packet, page 12, 9-10-18 final minutes.) What is more important to you, repairing roads that you drive on all the time or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for improving a building that you don’t use? How about the horrid road condition at M15 and Waldon Road? The city wanted to partially pay for that with grant money, but the city manager advised us on May 13, 2019 that the grant was denied. No worries – we “might” get the money in 2020 (see May 13, 2019 council packet, city manager’s report, page 7, Road Grant Status Update). So, our city manager is going to try to see what he can do “with the funds we have.” It’s all about priorities, isn’t it? And our city officials clearly don’t have the same priorities that we do.
We could not have been clearer in 2016 – we emailed, posted signs, petitioned, and called to clearly tell the city that we didn’t want our money spent this way. They were unmoved by what we said we wanted, and NONE of the council members cared – including the two council members who are usually fiscally responsible but who’ve apparently forgotten who brought them to the dance. Indeed, there was applause after the vote on the final resolution.
Don’t be discouraged by the propaganda around this project designed to make you feel bad if you speak up, and you should still do so.
What kind of propaganda am I talking about? Here’s an example. In a recent post on the Village of Clarkston Facebook page, Cory Johnston lamented the destruction of a rain garden as the first casualty of the community project construction. Someone named Maggie Elizabeth Moraco immediately jumped into the discussion to clap back and say that it’s “wonderful this COMMUNITY is coming TOGETHER, with the STUDENTS, to build such a building.” (I don’t understand the elementary school capitalization, but she seemed to like it so I reproduced it here.) Ms. Moraco chastised people she claimed were angry, spread negative thoughts, or who pointed fingers. When challenged, she admitted she’s not a Clarkston taxpayer – but she does like to visit Clarkston and enjoy what we’ve paid for, so there’s that.
So who is she and why should we care? She is Sam Moraco’s daughter. Who is Sam Moraco? He just happens to be the owner of MLC Building Company, and we are paying them $36,000 to oversee the community project. Maggie is the office manager.
Sit down, Maggie. We don’t need to hear from anyone who isn’t paying for this. And we certainly don’t need to be insulted by someone who works for us.
Going forward, every time that you hear your city government tell you that they don’t have the funds for something that you actually care about, speak up, and remind them of what they’ve done.
And when they try to raise your taxes because they claim to “need” it now that they’ve spent half of our water and sewer fund and are still $10,000 a year in the hole for the expenses for the grand community project? Remind them again. (And yes, they can raise your taxes, but they’ll have to break a promise to you first – I’ve explained how they could do it in the post titled “What’s Behind the ‘Raising Taxes’ Claim?”)
We will be watching and tracking all city expenditures. Mayor Eric Haven has proudly described his outrageously expensive project – the community project – as “fascinating, heartwarming, romantic, and inspiring” and wants more of the same. Well, at least he’s consistent – in the email below, he was perfectly fine spending up to $600,000 of your money on a city hall project.
Rather than applauding what they’ve done, they should feel ashamed.
Given the complete lack of fiscal responsibility, I think it’s clear that we may have to ask for an outside intervention at some point. There are options for dealing with runaway city government that don’t require many concerned citizens to effectuate. This is in addition to the obvious fixes, such as “voting the bums out,” or choosing one of them to take out with a recall petition to send a message that what they’ve done is unacceptable. I would also encourage those among you who are angry about the way your tax dollars are being spent to run for council. If you post your intentions on the Village of Clarkston Facebook page, I suspect that you will find a great deal of support for your campaign.