HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – Before the members of the Holland City Council can truly enjoy the upcoming Tulip Time Festival with their constituents, the “small” matter of approving a budget for fiscal 2018 must be addressed.
The lengthy process, which began with the informal “Coffee with Council” session in January, followed by a February retreat and several evenings of review with City Manager Ryan Cotton and his staff last month, concludes with a required public hearing and subsequent vote during this evening’s business meeting. Cotton says that the current millage rate of nearly 13.8 mills can be maintained for a sixth straight year in keeping the proposed 61.7 million-dollar overall spending plan, which includes General Fund expenditures of 21.2 million, balanced with expected revenues. However, BPW rates for electric, water and sanitary sewer services would increase.
Also during tonight’s meeting, Council is expected to go along with a retained consultant’s recommendation to remove a traffic light at the intersection of River Avenue and 4th Street north of downtown, along with extra stop signs at the corners of Central Avenue and both 4th and 6th streets, following the Tulip Time Festival. Those traffic control measures were initially installed as part of last year’s 9th Street renovation project and were kept through the winter, but traffic volume counts in the affected streets taken during a week last month didn’t warrant making the temporary measures permanent, according to the consultant.
Tonight’s council meeting begins in City Hall at 7 PM.
