LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — Residents in Livonia have voted against a bond proposal that would have funded renovations and new construction of several city buildings, including a police station and library.
Watch Tiarra Braddock's video report:
"If you have 18,000 people saying no to a $150 million millage, that says a lot," Jim Biga said.
Biga, a lifelong Livonia resident, voted against the multi-million dollar bond proposal that would have funded a new police station, new library, renovated fire stations and other projects.
"Every resident we ever talked with said why didn't they separate police and fire from everything, and it's terrible how the city wouldn't listen," Biga said.
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He believes the city should have prioritized upgrading the poor conditions at the fire and police stations before addressing other facilities.
"We all as residents said that is terrible, that needs to be addressed, that needs to be fixed and we as residents want that fixed, but we didn't want that lumped into this large millage," Biga said.
Another resident, Chére Bernhard, expressed relief that the bond was rejected.
"It is the entire voice of Livonia speaking out to this city council and to this mayor that we reject your proposal," Bernhard said.
Bernhard believes the current city buildings, including the library, could be renovated rather than replaced.
"We would like to see the elevator, ADA and that atrium fixed, and I think we could go ahead and do that for well less than $20 million," Bernhard said.
Livonia City Councilman Rob Donovic said he's listening to residents and working with other city officials to determine next steps.
"The buildings are still falling apart, we're still 'nickel and dimeing' these buildings, we're 'bandaiding' these buildings little by little, as I showed you earlier, it's leaking here on the first floor," Donovic said.
According to Donovic, the biggest question facing city officials now is how to maintain the buildings without raising taxes.
"We're going to go back and talk to several council members, talk to the mayor, talk to the department heads, talk to the engineers to figure out what is possible," Donovic said.
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