Mount Clemens manager proposes interim budget through Sept. 30 as commissioners weigh millage options

City Manager Johnson proposed that the commission adopt an interim fiscal 2020–21 budget that grants expenditure authority only through Sept. 30, 2020, citing uncertainty over COVID-19–related revenue losses. "I'm proposing to only ask for expenditure authority through September 30th," Johnson said, explaining staff will prepare adjusted budget resolutions in the coming weeks.

Johnson told the commission that tax rates must be set for the full fiscal year even if the budget is interim, and that administration continues to recommend levying the maximum permitted under state law (described in the record as roughly 2.79 mills), with the majority of that amount earmarked for the general fund. Several commissioners said they favored reducing the millage so that most taxpayers would see city taxes similar to the prior year.

The commission opened and then closed a public hearing on the proposed budget and millage at the meeting; no members of the public registered to speak during the hearing. Commissioners and staff emphasized that the interim approach is intended to preserve flexibility while staff and the commission gather better information about expected revenue and pandemic-related costs.

No final budget or millage vote was taken at the May 4 meeting; the commission scheduled the formal vote on both items for two weeks.

What happens next: staff will prepare revised budget resolutions that limit expenditure authority through Sept. 30 and present them at the meeting when the commission takes the formal vote on the budget and millage.