After much procedure, Ypsilanti City Council approved six mayoral re-appointments to city boards and committees Tuesday, including the two postponed from earlier...read more
Two of Ypsilanti's volunteer board members were not reappointed on schedule Tuesday night, owing to a 4-2 vote by City Council to delay the appointments until...read more
Three recently-vacated properties in downtown Ypsilanti, two of them condemned, will soon be renovated owing to recent purchase by a local development company and...read more
Residents living in the Liberty Square complex of townhouses will see a sticker appear on their homes Tuesday, when the Ypsilanti Township Building Department places...read more
New machines and equipment will soon be wheeled into Ford's Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti Township as it begins manufacturing a line of batteries for the new global...read more
The Ypsilanti Downtown Development Association approved its 2009-2010 budget at a special meeting held April 24.
The adopted budget allocates nearly $18,500 out of the organization’s fund reserve. The move allows the DDA to dip into more than 5 percent of into its $350,000 reserves next year.
The budget was approved by a 6-1 vote, with Jim Nelson voting against. Karen Maurer and David Curtis were absent from the meeting.
Brian Vosburg, the DDA Director, said the organization would not have to dip into its fund reserves this year, but there is an anticipated reduction in revenue next year. He said an expected 3.8 percent increase in revenue turned into a 2 percent decrease after property tax assessments were appealed and overturned.
To allot for the drop in revenue, the budget also cuts $55,000 from its Tax Increment Financing projects compared to this year.
Vosburg said the DDA receives revenue from two base sources. The first is from a 2-mil property tax collected within the district, which feeds the organization’s operating budget.
The second source is from an established TIF district, which caps the distribution of property tax revenue to other entities such as the library and schools, and diverts the remaining money to the DDA.
Next year, the budget cuts out funding to streetlight banners, holiday decoration replacement and “miscellaneous projects.” In addition, the budget cuts $10,000 from its $30,000 marketing budget.
“We’re not doing any slashing or burning,” Vosburg said. “We’re being wise with our budget.”
One item that will be carried over to next year is a $30,000 study into downtown parking. The study will look into parking trends downtown, and investigate the possibility of the DDA taking over the operations of parking enforcement downtown. The study was budgeted for this year, but was never conducted.
While next year’s budget does not allot for moving the director position to full-time, Vosburg said the board was likely going to pursue the possibility the following year. A full-time DDA director is a recommended step to continue the DDA’s commitment to the Main Street Program.
“The board has definitely indicated they are interested in going full-time in the next finanicial year,” Vosburg said.
Currently, Vosburg spends 25 percent of his time working for the Depot Town Downtown Development Association. In return, the DTDDA provides $18,000 in revenue every year to offset the cost. The YDDA would be out that income if it moved to a fulltime position.
The board decided to allocate $10,000 to this summer’s Cross Roads Music Festival. Curtis had asked the board for a $15,000 contribution at the DDA’s prior meeting. The DDA contributed $10,000 to the event next year.
He said private donations to the event this year have been drying up and the group that hosts the event, the Downtown Association of Ypsilanti, wants to attract larger acts, and thus more people, to the event.