Leaders from Farmington and Farmington Hills may have set aside talks of merging the two municipalities but all is not lost yet for advocates of regionalism and economic efficiency.
"We're still talking about advancing shared services," says Vincent Pastue, city manager for Farmington.
Among the services the two cities are looking to share are programs for seniors, after-school and cultural arts. However, both government units already work together on all of those things.
The latest round of talks about consolidating the Farmingtons began in recent months when a study by Plante Moran made a strong recommendation for merger. Officials from both cities jumped on the idea and launched investigations, but differences in costs and budgets derailed progress... for now.
The case for merger, however, remains strong. Farmington Hills would have increased its overall tax base, adding $4.5 million in taxes and 10,000 people to its $80 million budget and population of 82,000. Jurisdictional lines would have been simplified, government streamlined and redundancy eliminated.
Farmington Hills would add a badly needed downtown, instead of trying to build a new one in a cornfield. Not to mention it would improve the city's image by becoming one with what Money Magazine called the 55th-best community to live in America last year.
Farmington residents would enjoy a tax cut from 14.4 mills to 10.22 mills. Harnessing the resources of the much larger Farmington Hills would also allow for more development in the mostly developed older suburb.
Source: Vincent Pastue, city manager for Farmington
Writer: Jon Zemke
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