,
Highland Par's new councilman­
the inner and outer Fran
Ross Page3
VOL. IX NO. 23
"SER VING THE
00
pf t
There is a constitutional
ar aging in Michigan
hich pits urban school
di tric against giant cor­
porations.
One kirmish in this ar
finds the Pontiac Schools up
against Chrysler Corpora-
tion. '
Armed with City Council
approval to leave the City of
Highland Park, Chrysler
Corp. no Qualifies for a 50
percent tax break from the
City of Auburn Hills on the
utomaker proposed
800 million engineering
center.
In. addition, Highland
Park' o.k. allo 8 the City of
Auburn Hills to employ a
ne tax incentive to sweeten
deal for the number
three car maker.
The ne incentive is
Public Act 281 signed into
la by Governor James
Blanchard in December. It
allo s the City of Auburn
Hills to capture all of the
ne es generated by the
Chrysler development and
use the money to build
. roads, install sewer , erect
street lights and tum a cow
pasture into a manufactur­
ing site.
Pontiac schools attorney
Denni Pollard said Auburn
Hills does not have the right
to take tax dollars a ay
from voter approved uses.
"The people exerci their
right to vote and approve
taxes and the ballo i very
pecific about hat tho
es will go for," Pollard
said in pho intervie
onday, April 27.
" legi lature i no free
to divert th tax from
purpoee(s) approved by
t peop ,"
To Pollard, t is e is
imp : Why d n't the city
of ubum Hills put the
tion to the voters? Let
the vo decide bet 0
no y ant to pay taxe
for improvements to the
Chry site.
The di te ov Auburn
Hills' u of tax-
c
al
WITH TAX BREAKS:
Cbey"
ev ry dollar due, through
abatemeDt granted by city.
revenue from Chrysler was
settled in 1985 by an agree­
ment bet "een the city and
the Pontiac Schools, Pollard
said.
At that time, the city was
operating under a state law
which provided for an ap­
pointed board of citizens -
called a Tax Increment
Finance Authority (TIF A)
- to decide the use of new
taxes gained through
development.
Under the 1985 agree­
ment, Pollard said Pontiac
School agreed not to go to
court to challenge the TIFA
as long as the City of
Auburn Hill agreed to two
limitations.
First, after allowing
Chrysler a 50 percent tax
break, the city agreed DO to
spend all of the balance on
infra tructure im­
provement. The schools
ere to get half.
Second, by the year 2001,
the TIF A ould end and all
of the tax mOD y ouId go
to the schools.
Before t agreement, the
hools received 65 cents of
every tax dollar. Oakland
County, the intermediate
school district, commuoity
Z
STATE'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMJl1UNITY"
ge C· ryse
o
------�
WITH
o TAX
BREAKS:
Witho t ci s­
approved tax
brea 8,
8chools ould
reee lve 65 een
per dollar
college and city received the
balance.
Chrysler was not happy
with this arrangement. It
wanted all the new tax
dollars for road construction
and the like, servicing its
planned ne building,
Pollard said.
"I t i really Chrysler
we're negotiating with," he
said.
Rep. Virgil Smith
(D.-Detroit) sponsored a new
version of TIF A - the
mechanism hich lets
Auburn Hills take the new
taxes for infrastructure im­
provements for Chrysler.
The result was Public Act
25
MAY 3-9
a
281 of �86, which establish­
ed a Local Development
Finance Authority (LDF A).
The LDF A "redefined"
the old TIFA, Smith ex­
plained in an April 27 inter­
view.
Smith said many school
districts objected to the old
TIFA legislation because it
did not provide school
representation on the board.
"Pending lawsuits against
TIF A stopped the ability of
TIFA to bond," Smith
said. Without bonding
power, the TIFA could not
quickly build infrastructure.
La uit had been filed in
Beverly Hills, Farmington
Hills and the City of Ho ell,
Smith said.
Poll rd, ho repre en­
tated the plaintiffs, said the
legislature by passing the
new LDFA law did not
resolve the basic constitu­
tional question of whether a
city can divert tax dollar
from uses approved by
voters.
The passage of LDF A did
impact on the agreement
between Pontiac and
Auburn Hills.
Pollard said the ne la
let Auburn Hills get around
the 1985 agreement.
Continued on Page 2
·ownship ·officials in
court over dismissal
his position and act in contravention
(opposition) to his former (sic)
employer. "
The comment was reported in an
April 18 edition of The Daily Tribune
newspaper and said to have 'been
printed in the township's April
newsletter.
,. 0 where," the quote said. "Ex­
cept in Royal Oak Township, here a
Black government is being overseen
by white 'quasi administr tor . All
plaintiffs are hite, and all defen­
dants are Black."
Spo e persons for th plaintiff
ere not availabl fo comment hen
telephoned.
Royal Oak officials were in Oakland
County 6th Circuit Court Wed., April
29 in defense of the township's
authority of fire court-appointed
Superintendent Patrie McGannon.
Royal Oaks is a chartered township
of 5,000 located north of Eight Mile
at Wyoming in Oakland County.
Township Supervisor G. Whitney
McRipley, the top elected official said
at noon Wed. April 29 he was prepar­
ing for the court hearing at 1 :30 p.m,
and could not comment further. He
agreed to talk, but not before press
deadline Wed. evening.
McRipley as reported to have
said: "Where in America can a person
who has been properly dismissed,
with just cause, be allowed to retain
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e