After narrowly defeating a similar proposal one year ago, Ypsilanti voters have approved a millage increase to pay off debt from the failed Water Street redevelopment project.
By a nearly two-to-one margin, Ypsilanti voters said "yes" this time to a 2.3 mill proposal to pay off the more than $7 million the city owes related to the Water Street Redevelopment project.
Ypsilanti Mayor Amanda Edmonds said she was “relieved and full of joy” following the news of the final vote. She says the millage increase will allow the city to “stop the financial hemorrhaging and stabilize the city's finances and city services.”
She says they won't see the increased funding for another year but looked forward to adding police officers and restoring cuts they've had to make while paying down the debt.
She said ten percent of Ypsilanti's general fund budget had been going to debt service and looks forward to soon not having to deal with that.
Mayor Edmonds says the millage approval is cause for a big sigh of relief and believes the city of Ypsilanti can now begin moving forward in a much bigger way.
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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU, or email her at lbarryma@emich.edu
