When it comes to protecting our community, public safety funding should never be treated as a bargaining chip. Yet the city’s $150 million bond proposal does exactly that by bundling critical police and fire station funding with unrelated projects like a massive new library and vague “downtown” elements.

Public Safety Funding Should Stand Alone

Our police officers and firefighters deserve dedicated, focused funding that isn’t tied to the success or failure of unrelated initiatives. By packaging public safety needs with other projects, the city has created an all-or-nothing proposition that puts essential services at unnecessary risk.

The $150 million bond proposal allocates:

• $63.4 million for police facilities
• $11.8 million for Fire Station #1
• $7.9 million for Fire Stations #3-#6

That’s over $83 million for critical public safety infrastructure—infrastructure that protects every Livonia resident regardless of where they live in our 36-square-mile city. These aren’t luxuries; they’re necessities.

The City Council President’s Alternative

Several weeks ago, our City Council President demonstrated true leadership by proposing three alternative plans that would have separated public safety funding from the other elements in this proposal. These thoughtful alternatives would have:

1. Created a dedicated millage for police and fire station improvements
2. Allowed voters to evaluate public safety funding on its own merits
3. Ensured that essential services wouldn’t be held hostage to less critical projects

Yet these reasonable alternatives were rejected by other council members and the administration. Why? Because bundling public safety with other projects makes the entire package more likely to pass—even if many voters only support the public safety elements.

Support for First Responders Shouldn’t Be Politicized

Those who strongly support our police and firefighters should be particularly concerned about this approach. The brave men and women who protect our community deserve facilities that meet their needs, but by tying their funding to controversial and expensive projects like a new library, the city is placing that support in jeopardy.

Consider this: many residents would readily support funding for public safety improvements if given the chance to vote on it separately. But now, even the strongest supporters of law enforcement are forced into an all-or-nothing position: either approve millions in unrelated spending or vote against needed facilities for our police and fire departments.

This isn’t just bad policy—it’s a political calculation that gambles with public safety funding.

The Risks Are Real

The current proposal carries several serious risks for public safety funding:

1. Voter rejection of the entire package due to concerns about the non-public safety elements, leaving our first responders with outdated facilities
2. Reduced funding for actual safety improvements as money is diverted to other projects with less critical importance
3. Delays in implementing critical safety upgrades while the broader “downtown” initiative gets prioritized
4. Potential cost overruns in other areas of the project that could drain resources from public safety needs
5. Less accountability for how the public safety portion is spent when it’s bundled with multiple other projects

By separating these funding streams, taxpayers could ensure their money goes directly to supporting our police and firefighters without being diluted by other priorities.

The Right Approach

PLAN B (People of Livonia Advocating for Neighborhood Balance) believes our first responders deserve better. We support:

1. Separating public safety funding from unrelated projects
2. Creating a dedicated millage specifically for police and fire facilities
3. Implementing the Council President’s alternatives that would allow voters to evaluate each element on its merits
4. Ensuring that critical safety needs aren’t compromised by other priorities

The Bottom Line

Public safety isn’t a bargaining chip. It’s not a sweetener to make an expensive package more palatable. It’s the most essential function of local government and deserves to be treated with the respect and priority it demands.

Before voting on this millage, ask yourself: Do you want funding for police and firefighter facilities to depend on your willingness to approve a new library and vague promises of downtown development? Or would you prefer the option to support these critical services directly?

Our police officers and firefighters protect our community every day. The least we can do is ensure their needs aren’t buried in a bloated, bundled proposal filled with pet projects and empty promises of future development.

This is the fifth in a series examining Livonia’s proposed “downtown” millage. Visit FakeDowntown.com for previous articles examining what constitutes a real downtown, how the city is packaging municipal building projects under a misleading label, the hidden costs of the proposed bond, and the risks of the “if you build it, they will come” approach to development.