By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN, MI – Last week’s Buchanan City Commission meeting featured public hearings on the new city budget as well as the Downtown Development Authority’s new action plan. The commission approved the budget and will have a second public hearing on the DDA plan later this month.
City Manager Tony McGhee presented the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year that starts July 1, saying that the budget was developed with input from city commissioners and city staff.
The general fund budget is projecting a deficit after a couple of years of having a surplus budget. General fund revenue is set at $5,155,300 while general fund expenditures are set at $5,682,257.50. The overall millage rate for general operations will be 16.2839 mills which is slightly less than last year.
Capital expenditures in the new budget include new vote tabulators, BS&A software, firefighter equipment, police car cameras and radios, continuation of the sidewalk repair program, funds connected to Riverfront Park state grants and continued downtown infrastructure work including streetscape furniture and parking lot improvements.
The funds for local and major streets as well as water and sewer systems are also scheduled for approval. McGhee said the water and sewer funds include the proposed eight percent annual rate hikes which he said he expects to continue into the foreseeable future.
With the DDA proposal, Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette outlined the DDA’s new action plan which he has helped DDA members with over the last several months. The city commission will hold a second public hearing on the DDA plan and take action on it at their June 22 meeting.
The DDA was reformed last year after a five-year hiatus. Members have been working with Fette and city staff since late last year to set their priorities for the future. The plan presented to the city commission outlines projects to be pursued over the next 15 years as well as the budget for those projects.
Fette noted that the DDA’s goal is to halt the deterioration of property values downtown, eliminate the causes of that deterioration and to promote growth. The projects DDA members want to pursue through the use of tax increment financing funds are designed to promote economic growth in the downtown.
He told commissioners that the DDA has identified five objectives for the projects they want to undertake. They include increasing tourism and foot traffic downtown, improving the downtown business climate, encouraging local job retention and growth, maintaining and enhancing public spaces and protect the downtown’s historic character.
Fette said the DDA starts out with $505,000 in seed money that the DDA had previously accumulated and is expected to add another $112,000 or more in revenue each year in captured tax increment financing funds through expected growth. He said that the DDA expects to run a deficit each year as they use some of the $505,000 to fund the projects they want to do over the next 15 years.
He told commissioners that DDA members have identified a couple of areas they want to work on in the first year or two of the plan. He said the major focus will initially be on downtown marketing, wayfinding and signage with the DDA budgeting $130,000 for those three items in the first year and at least $30,000 annually in subsequent years.
Also last week, commissioners approved a fee schedule for the new vacant and underutilized building ordinance they approved earlier this month. The goal of that ordinance is to promote the return of these buildings to active use. McGhee said previously that the buildings have had a negative impact on the local economy and lower property values.
He said last week that the goal of the fee schedule is to encourage property owners to activate their buildings or pay a fee, adding that hardship cases will be considered. Two sets of fees were approved, one for commercial/industrial buildings and one for residential buildings. Fees will increase each year for five years.
The first year fee for commercial/industrial properties will be $1,500, rising to $2,500 in the second year, $3,000 in the third year, $4,000 in the fourth year and $5,000 in the fifth and subsequent years. The first year fee for residential properties will be $500, rising to $1,500 in the second year, $2,000 in the third year, $2,500 in the fourth year and $3,000 in the fifth and subsequent years.