Proposed budget shows ‘fairly significant increase’

STERLING HEIGHTS — As Sterling Heights nears the end of its financial calendar, officials and council members have already been discussing and proposing a budget for the next fiscal year.

According to a press release sent from the city March 28, the proposed budget totals $318 million. The proposed millage rate is 17.5323 mills, which the press release states “continues to be lower than most cities in Michigan and is one of the lowest in Macomb County.”

However, the proposed budget itself has a “fairly significant increase” over last year’s proposed budget, according to Mayor Michael Taylor.

“There’s a fairly significant increase if you just look at the numbers compared to the proposed budget last year,” he said.

Because the budget is adjusted several times through the year after being adopted, though, Taylor said the budget that’s been proposed for the 2025-2026 fiscal year is actually only about 9% more than what the budget ended up being for the previous fiscal year.

The budget is adjusted due to predicted revenue and expenditures versus what the city actually gets and spends, he said.

Despite the increase in the proposed budget, City Manager Mark Vanderpool said Sterling Heights has one of the lowest tax rates in the county.

“The city of Sterling Heights has very low tax rates,” he said. “When you compare us to other communities in Macomb County, we’re the lowest of any full-service city. We were the lowest. We have been for years. In the proposed budget, we will continue to be the lowest.”

A second budget hearing has been scheduled for April 22. The budget is expected to be adopted May 6 and will begin July 1.

 

Increase due in large part to Pathway to Play and Preservation millage
Taylor said the biggest change to the budget came from including the city’s “Pathway to Play and Preservation” millage, which was approved by voters in November 2024.

The 15-year millage is aimed at parks and recreation improvements around the city. Even though it’s for 15 years, the city has a goal of finishing all major projects associated with it within three years, he said.

“It’s kind of like a hodgepodge of different projects that community members and stakeholders have been asking for for a long time,” he said.

While most of the improvements through the millage are being done at the city’s Rotary and Red Run parks, a low-impact trail through the city’s nature preserve and a new pickleball facility are also planned.

Additionally, the millage will generate funds to repair sidewalks, plant trees and to help the city build its land bank, Taylor said.

Through the millage, the city plans to buy land to ensure that it is not developed by placing a conservation easement over the property and preserving it, Vanderpool said.

“We’ll be working diligently in the proposed budget to implement progress in all those areas,” he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of projects and a lot of investments happening in the city because of (the millage),” Taylor said.

 

Budget also allows for public safety, construction improvements
In addition to funding 554 full-time positions, the budget includes seven additional public safety positions – four firefighter/EMT positions and two police officers — which will be assigned to the grant-funded Crisis Response and Intervention Team, the press release states.

An additional school resource officer has also been proposed for the Warren Consolidated Schools district. Funds are also included in the proposed budget to replace 17 police vehicles and a fire engine.

Taylor said about $155,000 has been allocated to fund the Drone as a First Responder program, which he said will allow the city to have drones stationed throughout the city that will be activated when someone calls 911.

“When a 911 call comes in, the drone will automatically dispatch to that location,” he said. “So for example, if it’s a robbery in progress, the drone will dispatch from a location in the city, and it’ll elevate and take a straight line to wherever that property is.”

Taylor said there would be an operator at the police station able to see what the drone is seeing, which can help improve officer safety.

“They’ll be able to have a view of what’s going on there, which will help protect our police officers, help us better investigate things and better understand what’s going on,” he said.

Vanderpool said he believes Sterling Heights will be among the first departments in the state to utilize the drone technology.

“We’re continuing to do really amazing work in some of these innovative areas,” he said.

Additionally, the press release states “significant facility investments” are proposed to renovate the unused jail facility at the Police Department and turn it into a training facility, and a complete renovation of the city’s Fire Station No. 5 has also been proposed.

The proposed budget includes more than $12 million in major road work. This includes reconstruction of 15 Mile Road from Mound Road to Maple Lane; resurfacing of Dobry Drive; repair of the Schoenherr Road bridge over the Red Run Drain; and the $10.4 million reimagination of Clinton River Road from Hayes Road to Canal Road.

Due to the renewal of the Safe Streets millage, the proposed budget also includes $6.6 million that will go towards funding sectional repairs and full reconstructions of 22 neighborhood streets, the release states.