Op-Ed on Proposal For Increasing Fire Millage

Please Note: The following is an opinion/editorial letter from former Rochester Hills City Councilman Scot Beaton regarding the proposed fire millage that will be on the upcoming ballot in November. These opinions are his own and should in no way be considered an endorsement by Rochester Media, but rather to show our continuing commitment to presenting all sides of a story and/or issue. You can read former Rochester Hills City Councilman Ravi Yalamanchi’s Opposing stance on the issue here.

Fire Department Millage Request

Ravi Yalamanchi yet again won’t go away. Now he wants to ruin our Fire Department; put his misinformation opinion out on the streets. He has never attend any public meetings as of late regarding this very important issue that has come forward since he left office. Ravi Yalamanchi does not have a clue since our new Fire Chief took his position the deficiencies in our Fire Department. Does not have a clue how many paid on call we have available.

I will make this quick and simple: The 2.5 mills was set over 3 decades ago when we were a small, low-population township. The .5 mill levy will reflect the funding we need to support and maintain full-time EMS/Fire staff throughout our City of 73,000+ residents and will cost an average $55 bucks per household, per year in Rochester Hills!* A small price to pay for peace of mind. One hundred percent of this increase funding will go to hiring additional full-time EMS personnel to reduce response time in our city and save lives!

Ravi has voted ‘yes’ many times on City Council to rezone land zoned Single Family to Senior Care Facilities without coming up with a funding source to pay our fire department to cover their emergency calls. Next time he post letters to email friends and the press he should remind the residents of his pathetically poor voting record. And his vast knowledge of recovering funding from insurance companies is sophomoric to say the very least. His information regarding past 911/Dispatch is inaccurate… this was not a duplication of service; Oakland County Sheriff’s office handled all cell calls and our Fire Department handled all landlines. Many dedicated… many years of service… Rochester Hills’ employees lost their jobs with that decision. I can only assume Ravi’s solution for 911/Dispatch is to outsource those jobs to India or China.

Scot Beaton

Political Experience former Rochester Hills City Council member 1988 to 1997

President, Rochester Hills City Council (2 Years)

*Kirk Dawson Rochester Hills Assessing Department: “Average market value homes in Rochester Hills $220.000.” Taxable value would be about 1/2 that or $110.000 or one mill would be $110 per year. The Fire Department is requesting half that or about $55 per year; 16¢ per day is a small price to pay to save lives. Residents please support their request.

 

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Comments

  1. Wow! A pros and cons discussion in a public forum still occurs in Rochester Hills!
    Bravo to both gentlemen for presenting their arguments and opinion pieces!
    And many thanks to Rochester Media for providing the forum and space for a balanced discussion.

  2. Thanks Scot for the information. My husband and I have voted for the millage for the Fire Department. We are strong believers in always voting for Fire and Police protection. These people do a great job of taking care of our City and we want to make sure they have everything that they need to do their jobs..

  3. I appreciate being able to hear both sides of the argument. However, I’m a little disappointed that Scott choose to spend more time personally attacking Mr. Yalamanchi than laying out hard facts to support his case. I’m not familiar with either of these gentlemen and this seemed, to me, a sophomoric approach.

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