Traverse City Record-Eagle

Election 2007

November 6, 2007

Voters nix tapping Brown Bridge Trust Fund

By Vanessa McCray

TRAVERSE CITY — City voters rejected a proposal to dip into a trust fund to repair streets.

The ballot proposal was defeated 2,378 to 1,946.

That means the city can't cap its Brown Bridge Trust Fund and use money from it to pay for street, sidewalk and other repairs for five years. But city officials who backed the plan pledged to find other ways to pay for the work.

"(We'll) find another way of dealing with that," said Commissioner Ralph Soffredine. "We cannot allow it to go any further."

The trust fund collects money from oil well royalties and cell tower rentals. The proposal would have capped it at $9 million and allowed an estimated $3.6 million to be diverted to pay for street work.

The plan drew opposition from some who thought the money should be saved for more special purchases, not more routine work such as street maintenance.

In the past, voters agreed to use fund money to buy property.

Soffredine said he understands that "rainy day fund" notion, but said streets are in such bad shape that it's "pouring out there." City Manager Richard Lewis said the city doesn't have a backup plan, but will work to find another solution over the next couple of months.

City resident Paul Champion would rather see the city pay for sidewalk improvements than have the money come out of homeowners' pockets.

"They should do more with the sidewalks," he said.

He supported using Brown Bridge money to do that "as long as they can't get their hands on the $9 million."

Lewis said it appeared to him that residents agreed the streets were in poor condition and needed fixing, but they weren't ready to spend the trust fund for it.

Staff writer Melissa Domsic contributed to this report.

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