Ypsilanti Police Budget Ballot Initiative Heads to Governor Whitmer After City Council Sends Charter Amendment to Lansing

Ypsilanti City Council Sends Police Budget Ballot Initiative to Governor

The Ypsilanti City Council has sent a Charter Amendment ballot initiative to Governor Gretchen Whitmer that would require voter approval for any increases in the police department budget.

But it is still a long way from going before voters in November.

On Tuesday night, the Council forwarded what is called a Certificate of Sufficiency. It certifies the initiative collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.

The Governor can accept the ballot language or send it back for modifications.

Participatory budgeting would put power into the people's hands to make proposals and to vote on things. That thing would come to Council to say, Yes, here we go! This is what we're budgeting for.

Council member Desirae Simmons said the initiative would bring the public into the budgeting process.

Divisive Proposal Sparks Debate

The major source of contention is the Ballot Question's Statement of Purpose, which still needs to be approved. Some on Council want it to state the dangers its passage could bring getting a budget finalized. Its language must be approved by the Attorney General.

Council member Patrick McLean, Ward 2, has previously been critical of the proposed initiative. At the April 7 meeting, he expressed concern that the way the proposal is presented does not accurately reflect the actual impact to the city charter, which he said will change the entire budget process and the respective roles of the mayor, city council, citizens and the city manager.

It is holding our budget hostage. There is no good reason to put anything before the voters that creates an inherent, internal contradiction within our city charter. This would make our city charter make no sense. And it would make our city almost ungovernable.

McLean raised questions about the City Council's ability to complete its fiscal budget by the date Michigan law would require if completing a budget depended on the timeline of an election cycle.

We would have to start, I believe, a 2029 budget while we're busy doing the 2026 budget.

He said if the budget wasn't approved by the required date, it could trigger other actions, such as the appointment of an emergency manager, which he said could harm the city.

City charter stipulates that a budget must be adopted by June 7 each year, and the mayor shall declare a fiscal emergency if a budget isn't adopted by then.

McLean also raised concerns about how the proposed change could impact the police department and its officials.

This is really in an effort to either throw us into fiscal chaos or eliminate the police department.

Council Pushes Back on Concerns

Councilor Desiraé Simmons, Ward 3, pushed back on these concerns, describing some of the pushback as fear-mongering and misinformation around the issue.

Councilor Amber Fellows, Ward 3, shared similar views, telling The Echo that this initiative will not defund the police.

It's just: every time we want to increase the budget, it has to be approved by the vote of the people. It is really a matter of a compelling argument from future council governments, like, Hey, we need an increase. And if the argument is compelling, then the voters might support that, but overall, it is just some more democracy, and so I find it pretty abhorrent that people are advocating against it.

Fellows said the proposal brings decision-making to the hands of the public, and said the community should move towards addressing social issues as a collective.

To get more into organizing social needs by collective decision-making, I think is the direction we should go towards, so that is going to look like shifting away from traditional government models, and putting more things on the ballot.

Organizers Say Public Has No Say

Before the proposal can appear on ballots, it must be reviewed by the governor, who bring back adjustments that need to be made, said City Attorney Randolph Barker.

During the public comment portion of the April 7 meeting, some residents spoke in favor of the proposal and bringing the original language to a vote on a ballot.

Many mentioned recent incidents, including the police response to a man who barricaded himself in his home and a fatal shooting by Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies, as reasons for their support.

In materials shared online, organizers at YpsiBIG argue that this initiative is necessary to rethink what safety means, and that oftentimes, residents aren't even aware when the police budget increases.

Currently, the general public has no say in changes to the police budget. The budget has frequently been raised at the last moment by the approval of council, and while citizens can express public comment in either support or disapproval, it is ultimately not up to us.

What Is the Initiative?

The proposal was initiated by the Ypsi Ballot Initiative Group, or YpsiBIG, and the petition for it was filed with the city clerk July 19, 2024.

It is proposed that City Charter Section 5.04 be amended to provide for a limit in the City Council's provision to budget police expenditures above the previous year's budgeted expenditures unless such an increase be approved by a majority of voters in a regular city-wide election in a ballot question pertaining to no other issue.

A certificate of sufficiency certifies that an initiatory petition was canvassed and approved for the required number of valid signatures of registered electors in Ypsilanti.

Previously, the resolution approving the certificate of sufficiency was tabled to allow time for council members to prepare an explanatory caption. An explanatory caption is a description to explain the proposal when it is submitted to the county and governor. It does not replace the original petition language, which is what would be presented to voters on a ballot.

Council members voted and approved an amendment to omit an explanatory caption, which wasn't required to submit the ballot proposal to the governor's office.

Councilors opted to submit only the original ballot language, with the option to include a caption later.