TRAVERSE CITY: Raises, hires, vehicle buys on tap

May 12—TRAVERSE CITY — Infrastructure work, raises and new hires could push Traverse City's spending higher in the coming budget year.

City commissioners on Monday will discuss — but not vote on — a draft spending plan for July through June 2024, and their study session agenda also includes a review of plans to rebuild a beach parking lot near Division Street and Grandview Parkway.

The city's general fund anticipates $23,614,700 in general fund revenues and $24,574,600 in expenditures, according to the draft budget. That covers most city operations except those under enterprise funds, such as water and sewer, or special revenue fund, like one for a new Traverse City Senior Center. Traverse City Light & Power and the Downtown Development Authority also have their own separate budgets.

Both police and fire departments, which together make up about 40 percent of the city operations budget, are set to spend more than the current budget year. For the police department, spending would increase by $790,700 to $5,600,600, and the fire department by $387,600 to $4,309,800.

City Manager Liz Vogel said part of the increase for the police department reflects her request to add another community police officer, plus a social worker to its Quick Response Team. Grant funds could at least partly cover the latter, but the draft budget doesn't assume the city will get that grant.

Plus, two bargaining units within the police department — command officers and sergeants — will get a 6-percent raise coming in July, Vogel said. Those groups include three in the former and five in the latter, city data shows.

Outside of public safety, general municipal and clerical/technical employees will get that same raise, Vogel said. Those two units represent a total of 61 city workers, according to city data.

"So with respect to the way the inflation was hitting everybody, that was where we landed," she said.

Other bargaining units still within their contract are set to get raises as well, including 3.5 percent for 24 city firefighters, Vogel said. Their contract expires in 2025, so she expects to begin negotiations before too long.

She'll decide soon on raises for 42 city employees not represented by a union. They received a 5-percent raise last year, plus some wage reclassifications.

Those wage increases have knock-on effects on fringe benefits, such as Social Security and workers compensation insurance the city must pay, Vogel said.

Traverse City Fire also is gearing up to take over as the city's primary transport ambulance agency, currently handled by Medical Mobile Response. Voters in November agreed to up the city's operating millage levy from its state law-imposed cap. That'll require hiring nine firefighter paramedics and an Emergency Medical Services captain.

Those firefighter paramedics will need two new ambulances, with the budget calling for a $700,000 capital outlay to buy them. Other big capital projects include replacing the hoist in the city garage for $417,780, six patrol-ready police vehicles for $380,000 and a hybrid gas-electric front-end loader for the Streets Department at $388,920.

There are numerous other projects, including continuing a state revolving loan-funded effort to replace old galvanized-steel water service lines for $1.78 million.

That's just one on the water and sewer side, with the budget including $2.2 million to complete design work for rehabbing the wastewater treatment plant's primary treatment stages, Vogel said. The city will reapply for another state revolving fund loan to complete the actual construction, after the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy rejected its past application.

Another item, although smaller in dollar size, could have a big impact, Vogel confirmed. She included an extra $96,200 in the city commission budget, pushing the total to $233,600, for strategic planning.

Soon, she'll ask commissioners to consider a proposal with firms Future-IQ and BerryDunn, with the latter to provide facilitation on implementing the strategic plan that the former would complete.

That plan will look at city goals, long-term plans to realize them and accountability measures to track progress toward them.

West End Beach

Commissioners on Monday also will review plans to rebuild West End Beach's damaged parking lot. Part of its northernmost edge crumbled in 2020 when high Lake Michigan water levels and waves undercut the pavement.

Drawings from the city's Engineering Department show a lot with fewer spaces, down to 17 from the previous 25. Two of those spaces would be accessible for people with disabilities. West of the parking would be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access to the beach, while on the east end, quarried stone stairs would lead from the parking lot.

Armor stone would be added between the water line and parking lot edge, covered with grass and planted over with native plants.

Lastly, a rebuilt Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails pathway would still cross the parking lot twice and run between the lot and Grandview Parkway.

City Engineer Anne Pagano told commissioners in a memo she wants feedback to ensure plans are what they're looking for before taking the next steps. A tentative schedule calls for finalizing construction plans by the end of May, seeking bids between June 7 and June 28 and starting construction no sooner than Aug. 26. It's all planned within a $200,000 budget limit.