The Brighton City Council Thursday night passed a budget amendment which gives residents assurance that the revenues from the street millage which passed last week will be used for their intended purpose. The city will realize an additional $1.18 million extra in tax revenue for the next seven years as a result of the millage passing.

The first streets to get the repair work will be on the Southwest side and include South Third from Brighton Lake Road to Fairway Trails, Fairway Trails itself ,and Alpine. City Manager Nate Geinzer tells WHMI that because some scoffers were saying the city wouldn’t use all of the money for streets but would plug it into other projects, it was imperative council guarantee that the millage revenues will be going where promised.

The budget amendment to create a dedicated fund for the street millage passed on a unanimous vote, with the project to begin in the spring of 2020. It was pointed out that Rickett Road will undergo a major reconstruction this summer, but that money will come from the major street fund, for which the funds have already been budgeted. A collapsed sewer line caused a sinkhole to develop last year and cost the city about 200,000 to repair. Because the sewer and water lines in that area date back to 1939, it was felt the work needed to be done as soon as possible, or more serious problems would occur.

In related action Thursday, council approved a proposal by Tetra Tech for design engineering and bidding services for the S. Third, Alpine and Fairway Trails street improvement project at a cost of $30,000. Council also approved a proposal by Tetra Tech for final design engineering and permitting services for the Northwest neighborhood street improvement project in an amount not to exceed $136,000. That project won’t begin until 2021 and will likely take two years to complete because of the massive nature of the project.

The major project involves putting in new sewer and water lines and totally reconstructing the several streets involved, along with installation of curb and gutter. It was emphasized that none of the money for the design and engineering work will come out of the millage passed by voters on May 7th. Rather, it will be taken out of the city’s 2019-20 general fund budget. (TT)