8 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 8 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom PROPOSALS From Page 1 support of the proposal because it would provide crucial funding for repairs. "If we didn't have a street mill- age, the only other place we'd have money to repair streets would be the general fund, and the general fund simply does not have enough flexibility in creating a budget to maintain the streets," she said. The city maintains about 200 miles of residential streets and 100 miles of major streets as well cost $23 million and be completed as 13 bridges, according to the by next November. proposal. Briere said in the last'two years, PROPOSAL2: SIDEWALK "the city has not been maintain- MILLAGE ing the streets as effectively as we'd all like." If passed, Proposal 2 would add She attributed this tp, the n additional tax to that proposed city's decision to postpone oahin Proposal 1 to fund sidewalk maintenance so it can afford the repair. It is expected that Pro- reconstruction of the Stadium posal 2 would generate $563,000 Bridges. The East Stadiujiys in revenue in thefirst year. levard Bridges Replacement and Ann Arbor currently requires Improvement Project, which property owners to pay for their will replace the two bridges over own sidewalk repair, which is a South State Street, is expected to policy Proposal 2 seeks to change. According to Briere, the city pre- ING LOCATIONS viously hadn't strongly enforced the standing rule. But with stricter enforcement in recent on n, 530 S.-State St. years, Ann Arbor residents who igh School, 401N NDivision assumed the city pays for repairs enter, 625N, Main St. have been responding negatively. ool, 912 Barton Dr. "It angered people because mos, 2101 Bonisfeel Blvd. they weren't prepared for spend- mmsnit Center 1000 Mclstyre Or. ons, 10 Aing the money," Briere said, 1608 S. University adding that sidewalk repair is ;ue, 911 N. University unexpectedly expensive. >n, 530 S. State St. However, with or without the ig Place, 926 Mary St. approval of Proposal 2, residents h Ave. and Hi'tSM u, who fail to repair their sidewalks chool, 601 W. Stadism Blvd. will still be charged by the city. tl Library,34'iAv, If the proposal passes, the first IF PASSED, THE PROPOSALS WOL Proposal One: Streg and Proposal Two: Bridges MillageA s Add a sidewalk Take effect between 2012 streets and brit and 2016 The city wosld Allocate funds to repair streets repairs instead Net an estimat Net an estimated $9 million inthe first year first year would be atrial run to see how much money needs to be spent on sidewalk repair. Because the proposal changes the side- walk repair policy of the city, Bri- ere said there is no accurate way to estimate the amount of money that will be spent. PROPOSAL 3: EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT BOARD If passed, Proposal 3 would add two citizen trustees to the Employees' Retirement Board - currently a nine-person group that responds to city of Ann Arbor employee retirement system issues in the city. The proposal stems from a 2005 report by the city of Ann Arbor Blue Ribbon Committee. The 2005 report recommends that the citizen trustees have "significant experience" in pen- sion care administration, pension actuarial practices, investment management, finance, business, banking, certified public account- ing and/or law. The Blue Ribbon Cpnittee aimed to have the council eliminate potential con- flicts of interest within the board. However, while the 2005 report recommends the city administrator have a spot on the board - which he currently does - the current proposal would remove that post. City Council member Stephen Eapundalo (D-Ward 2) said he was one of the people to introduce these recommendations for the ballot once they were ready. "The proposal essentially calls for getting rid of the city admin- istrator (spot on the board) and ensure that there's more citizens than beneficiaries," Rapundalo said. Though the committee's rec- ommendations were made six I years ago, Rapundalo said he doesn't think it lacks relevance. "What the task force found then is just as valid today," Rapundalo said. Census: Wealth gap widening between generations in U.S. People older than 65 have a networth 47 times greater than those under 35 WASHINGTON (AP) - The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportuni- ties for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt. The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by some- one under 35, according to an analysis of census data released yesterday. While people typically accumu- late assets as they age, this gap is. now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-centu- ry ago, after adjusting for inflation. The analysis by the Pew Research Centere rflets the" impact of the economic downturn, which has hit young adults par- ticularly hard. More are pursuing college or advanced degrees, tak- ing on debt as they wait forthe job market to recover. Others are struggling to pay mortgage costs on homes now worth less than when they were bought in the housing boom. The report, coming out before the Nov. 23 deadline for a special congressional committee to pro- pose $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years, casts a spotlight on a government safety net that has buoyed oderAmericans on Social Security and Medicare amid wider cuts to education and other pro- grams. Complaints about wealth inequality, high unemployment and student debt also have been front and center at Occupy Wall Street protests around the country. "It makes is wonder whether the extraordinary amount of resources we spend on retirees and their health care should be at least partially reallocated to and savings accumulated over those who are hurting worse than the years, including stocks, bank them," said Harry Holzer, a labor'accounts, real estate, cars, boats economist and public policy pro- or other property, minus any debt fessor at Georgetown University;,.such as mortgueis, college loans who called the magnitude of the and credit card bills. Older Ameri- gap "striking." cans tend to have higher net worth The mediannet worth ofhouse- because, they are more likely to holds headed by someone 65 or have paid off their mortgages and older was $170,494. That is 42 built up more savings over time. percent more than in 1984, when Because the Pew report exam- the Census Bureau first began ines households at the midpoint measuring such data broken down of the economic scale, it does not by age. The median net worth for delve deeply into changes occur- the younger-age, households was ring at the top and bottom of the $3,662, downby 68 percent from a distribution. A new census mea- quarter-century ago, according to sure released yesterday shows the Pew analysis. the poverty rate to be higher than Net worth includes the value previously known - about 15.9 of a person's home, possessions percent for Americans 65 or older, compared to the official 9 percent rate reported in September. Work- ing-age adults ages 18-64 also saw increases in poverty - from 13.7 percentto 15.2 percent. Nancy LeaMond, an executive vice president of AARP, noted that older Americans spend a dispro -I portionate share of their income on out-of-pocket medical care, compared to other groups. "Mil- lions of older Americans today continue to struggle to make ends meet," she said. 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