A 2007 Port Huron City Council Candidate’s Thoughts on Port Huron ’s Future. 

As a candidate I do not yet have all the facts I may need to know on every issue Port Huron faces. One needs all the facts before making a final decision. Knowing what I know currently there are several areas of concern that need addressing by the next Port Huron City Council.

Before I go into details it is important to understand the current situation Port Huron is in. At the round table discussion I attended it was interesting to see that about ½ the participants in my session wanted business as usual while the other half realized if Port Huron is going to turn around then we must make big changes to how we currently operate. Change and particularly reductions are seldom popular so politicians are taught not to say anything as it can only loose you votes. Port Huron does not need politicians at this time in its history it needs leadership. My understanding of what being a leader means is: Stating the current situation as you see it. Stating what the goal is. Stating what needs to be done to achieve the goal. Working to make what needs to be done happen.

What is the current situation:

Port Huron is in decline. The population size is declining, the average incomes are declining, the conditions of the buildings are declining and the percentage of properties that are owner occupied is declining.

Port Huron is in this decline because the local government has lost customers by not providing the services the customer wants at the cost the customer is willing to pay. For example a customer can choose Fort Gratiot or Port Huron to live. If that customer is a duel income family with a combined income of $100,000 a year and buys a $150,000 home it cost that customer $1,840.96 a year in local taxes to live in Fort Gratiot or $3,786.40 to live in Port Huron . What will that customer get for the extra $1,945.44 a year in local taxes? Rather they choose Fort Gratiot or Port Huron they still have access to the Marinas , Museum and McMorran etc... Is it no wonder that Fort Gratiot is growing while Port Huron is declining. This is before the cost of the sewer separation project is added in.

What is the Goal:

Our goal needs to be reversing the decline of Port Huron and to do what we must to attract customers back. To attract customers we must correct the disparity between the local taxes in Port Huron and that of our competitors in Fort Gratiot , Kimball and Port Huron Township . If we do not then Port Huron will continue to slowly decline which will result in lower tax revenues despite the higher tax rates and more programs and services cut in the long run. If we reverse the decline we can look at adding programs back so long as we stay cost competitive with our competition.



What needs to be done to achieve the goal:

To achieve this goal we must take bold actions. Not only do we have to make what ever cuts are needed to avoid a huge increase in water rates we must find ways to improve even farther if we are going to be able to compete for customers.

In all areas I would expect as much from my government as I am expected to do in the business world. I expect a continuous improvement to the productivity, quality and effectiveness of each city department. At a minimum I would expect a 10% improvement each of the first 2 years. My measurement is cost/citizen. If the population increases by 10% then the total cost of the program should stay the same. If the population stays the same the total cost of the program should decrease 10% from 2007 costs. If the population continues to decline then the cost of the program would need to decrease even more. By itself this will not get us to our goal but it will be a step in the right direction.

As most governments do not think this way we can probably count on our competitors programs and services in Fort Gratiot , Kimball and Port Huron Township steadily increasing in costs. If one uses a 5% costs increase for the townships and a 10% cost improvement for Port Huron then our current costs would still take until 2011 until choosing Port Huron costs $2,484.25 a year versus $2,237.70 for Fort Gratiot for the potential customer used above. In 2012 we would start earning customers by offering the same services as the townships but at the reduced costs of $2,235.83 in Port Huron and increased costs of $2,349.58 in Fort Gratiot .

As we become more efficient and reduce costs the first reduction in taxes I will push for is the elimination of the city income tax. The city income tax is one of the major cause’s of Port Huron ’s decline. Similar city income taxes in place at 21 other Michigan cities are contributing to 20 of those 21 declining in population while the surrounding communities grow. In addition it will allow us to eliminate the income tax department, eliminate extra paperwork and costs for potential businesses in the city and restore a little personal privacy by not having to report our income and other personal information to the city.

In addition to the above we must also pay for the Water/Sewer separation project. It is my understanding that this cost is $135,000,000 of which about $50,000,000 is yet to be completed. In the round tables it was shown that the interest and principle payments would peak at about $10,200,000 a year. To address this issue I would first need to understand the Cities legal options better. If at all possible I would stop any further work on the project. The reason is that I believe allowing storm water to run off directly into the lakes and rivers is a terrible idea. Road salt, fertilizers, oil, anti-freeze, brake dust and other pollutants going directly into the lakes and rivers is the wrong solution to a capacity problem.

In the chemical industry that I work I have operated water treatment systems and we were required to capture the rain water off of the roofs and parking lots of our facility. The parking lot run off often tested as having oil and other pollutants that we removed before sending the water to the city’s water treatment plant. In order to handle heavy rains we built extra storage capacity. We used the extra capacity to capture and separate the first 30,000 gallons of rain from the rest of the rain. We found the first ½” or so of a rain contained the pollutants while the rest of the rain was stored in one of two over flow storage areas that were used for “clean” rain only. Samples from the first over flow area could be quickly tested and then released before the 2nd area was full. This allowed us to capture the initial polluted run off and keep up with a heavy rain.

In stead of spending another $50,000,000 to continue to separate the sewers I would build extra storage capacity away from the riverfront. The long term plan would be to move the water treatment facility off of the intersection of the St Clair and Black Rivers to a less valuable piece of real estate.

Rather we spend the whole $135,000,000 to continue separating or less than that to build storage capacity it still needs to be paid for. This is where the severe cuts and changes come in so that we do not raise our water costs above our competitors. Some initial thoughts are:

1. Eliminate the PH dispatch system and use the county dispatch system which we are all ready paying for.
2. Sell the Municipal Office Center and use the proceeds to pay some of the $85,000,000 of debt, in addition we would be collecting property taxes from that very valuable real estate. We can than locate city offices in a much more humble building on a less valuable piece of real estate, perhaps the old post office or old county jail. The maintenance costs on the MOC are only going to get worse.
3. Go from 3 to 2 fire stations. At less than 1 building fire of any size every 5 days we can make do with less.
4. Either sell the Water Street marina and use the proceeds to pay some of the $85,000,000 of debt and in addition start collecting property taxes from that valuable real estate Or make the marina profitable by lowering the fees so that more than 20% of the boat slips are used. In addition start letting commercial operations use the marina like charter fishing boats or canoe rentals. Have lower rates for residents than non-residents as this adds value to some potential customers making slightly higher property taxes which are tax deductable reasonable to some potential new customers. 
5. Start charging non-residents to use city boat launches, this would also encourage marina use and city residency.
6. Remove all the parking meters except for a few in the prime spots which should have higher parking fees. Sell them as used or as scrap metal. It is my understanding the city loses money on the parking meters due to low fees not covering maintenance and collection costs.
7. I am not positive if the county and federal buildings in the city pay property taxes or not. If they do not we should encourage the post office and county jail properties to be sold once they are no longer needed so that those properties get on the tax roll. The current Post Office building overlooks Vantage point and I would think would be a great location to develop.

8. Get out of the commercial building industry by selling off buildings owned in the industrial park.  Use proceeds to pay off debt and add property to the tax rolls.

9. Prioritize the remaining city functions. Separate the must haves from the nice to haves. Most likely there will not be money leftover in the budget for the nice to haves at this point in Port Huron ’s history.  These city functions will end up being cut anyway if we do not reverse Port Huron ’s current decline and start bringing customers back. The private sector maybe able to pick up many of these functions such as the YMCA’s new pool replacing the 2 city pools.  

Mark Byrne

Candidate for Port Huron City Council.