Muskegon City Commission Hears Concerns About Snowplowing

Andrew Trzaska | January 27, 2011

Plowing snowy streets and alleyways became a big focus of the Muskegon City Commission meeting Tuesday night.

One city resident who lives on Montgomery Street spoke up in the public comment portion of the meeting and called for the commission to look into better plowing of alleys in the city of Muskegon.

The resident noted that she drives a special needs van and she must enter her driveway from an alley.  She said she was unable to get her van into her driveway because of the amount of unplowed snow made the alley impassable.

She could not park on the street either due to city regulations stating that cars must be off the streets by 2 a.m. for snowplows to plow the streets.

Commissioner Chris Carter addressed that double bind and questioned whether some movement could be made with parking on the streets or increasing plowing in key areas.  City Manager Bryon Mazade  but no conclusion was reached at the meeting.

Mayor Steve Warmington urged the citizen to attend the city’s next work session on February 7 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, where the commission plans to address the plowing issue further.

City snowplowing efforts have been reduced recently due to city budget cuts.  Coincidentally, commissioners received an update on the city’s 2010-2011 fiscal budget at Tuesday’s meeting as well.  At about halfway through the city’s fiscal year, the city has collected about half a million dollars more in income taxes than they projected for the year.

The increase in tax dollars could be due to an upswing in Michigan’s economy — more income tax dollars could mean more dollars being paid to people, which means more economic activity could be happening.

The news about the increased income for the cash-strapped city was balanced with news that the city’s spending was $2 million above what was anticipated back in summer of 2010.  This was expected, however, because a portion of that comes from paying off long-term debt and deciding to pay into employee pension funds.

Commissioner Steven Wisneski noted during the meeting that the city’s budget was still one of the healthiest in the state.