26BUDGET(FULL-LINKED) - Flipbook - Page 15
City of Plymouth 2025 / 2026 Budget
City Manager’s Budget Message
The financial state of the City remains stable, and we are maintaining a solid General Fund
Balance. We have a Standard and Poor’s Bond Rating of AA+ with a stable outlook. The City
Charter requires that the administration deliver a balanced budget to the City Commission. The
proposed budget this year will have the lowest overall tax rate since 1997 – 98, which is 13.6717
mills. While that is good news for our taxpayers, we need to acknowledge that we will likely see
changes in a number of revenue and expenditure sources being impacted by higher than initially
calculated inflation, a possible recession, stock market drops, limits on revenue generation,
staffing challenges and continued supply chain issues along with higher pricing for vehicles,
parts, supplies and machinery.
Headlee Amendment and Proposal A will continue to impact our revenue sources now and into
the future. This year we are limited to a 3.1% growth in revenues rate (inflation rate). The last two
years we were limited to a 5% increase in revenues in each of those years despite inflation
operating at 7.9% and 5.1%. This will mean that our revenues have not kept up with inflation,
but we still have been able to reduce our general operating millage rate in ten of the last
eleven years in a row. The city is proposing to again reduce our general operating millage
rates charged to the property owners down to 10.1964 mills, the Charter limit is 15 mills.
Our proposed debt millage is at 1.68 mills, which is well below the 3 mills that we initially
anticipated when we developed our current road bond millage rates. Our proposed recycling
solid waste millage rate is proposed at 1.82 mills.
As usual, we anticipate that this budget will be subject to our normal quarterly changes as we
progress during the fiscal year. We are continuing to look at and apply for alternative funding
or grant resources where we can.
This proposed budget will be the first in five years to show no expenditure of federal grant funds
related to Covid. The City has been highly effective in promptly committing and using these
special federal funds, as well as seeking reimbursement for our expenditures. In at least one case,
our project was complete, and we had to wait until just recently for the reimbursement submittal
window to open. Using these special funds quickly and effectively helped to prevent the Federal
Government from attempting to “claw back” unexpended funds.
The Pandemic provided us a number of unique opportunities to show that local government can
adapt and overcome “on-the-fly.” Some of those changes have remained in place, such as the
Santa arrival at neighborhood parks. The pandemic also taught us to continue to partner with both
the private sector and our local service clubs to the benefit of the community. In short, the
pandemic showed us that we are a results-based organization, not a processed based
organization. We have proven that we have the ability to adapt and overcome.
One issue that has already shown significant increases in costs is elections and the election
process. The costs of providing safe, secure elections have skyrocketed. We are anticipating full
reimbursement from the State of Michigan under the terms of the Headlee Amendment. However,
we still have not been fully reimbursed for our expenses for the Presidential election. The State
is using “grants” to meet their obligations under Headlee, rather than a direct reimbursement of
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