A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
7
February 19, 2015
W
AYNE
- W
ESTLAND
City services will
move to empty school
Schools end fiscal year with positive balance
Officials celebrate grand opening of new fire station
Residents looking for services at
Wayne City Hall at the end of March will
find the current building empty of staff
and undergoing some serious construc-
tion.
More than $350,000 in repairs will be
performed on the roof at the building,
originally constructed in the 1940s. Roof
trusses over the section used as the city
council meeting room failed during the
heavy snowfall of 2013-14. The building
was remodeled as the city hall in 1988.
Officials said that city services would
be moved to the abandoned Vandenberg
Elementary School, located at 32101
Stellwagen. The city had proposed a lease
with the Wayne-Westland Community
Schools district for $1 a year. School offi-
cials rejected that offer and suggested the
city pay the utility costs at the school
which are about $7,678. The lease signed
between the two entities is for 90 days
although officials said they hope to have
the repairs completed within 30-60 days.
The city insurer, MichiganMunicipal Risk
Management Authority, will pay for nearly
all the repairs andwill also pay the cost of
the lease and related costs ofmoving.
When the plan was discussed at a
recent meeting of the city council, resi-
dent RonRoberts suggested amove to the
Community Center and resident Vern
Amos asked why city hall services could
not be moved into the Wayne Library and
why such a move could not be made per-
manent.
While they may not have
reached their goal, the fund equi-
ty balance in theWayneWestland
Community Schools District was
very good news for the members
of the board of education earlier
thismonth.
Despite the loss of 315 stu-
dents and $385,907 in vocational
education tuition, the district will
finish the 2014-2015 fiscal year
with a projected general fund
balance of $61,447, welcome
news to the boardmembers after
several years of deficits. In addi-
tion, administrators said the fund
balance in the district will be
maintained at just under $3.8
million, which is below the 5-10
percent goal board members set
for the district when the budget
was approved last June.
According to administrators, the
district was able to cut nearly
$800,000 in expenditures, offset-
ting the drop in revenue last year.
During the budgeting process,
administrators used Gov. Rick
Snyder's proposed $112 per-pupil
increase and projected a
decrease in enrollment of about
50 students. Final figures indicat-
ed that the district received a
$175 per student state allotment
and lost 315 students, which
reduced that revenue by nearly
$1.8 million. Wayne-Westland lost
another $200,000 in vocational
education tuition and a further
$385,907 in state-funded special
education tuition.
Those losses were offset by a
savings of $263,288 in salaries, an
additional $496,798 in local tax
revenue and $1.1 million in state
funding to offset increased in the
state retirement program. The
district also received $523,652
from Wayne County Regional
Educational Service Agency
(RESA) for special education
services.
The district was able to save
$438,777 in purchased services,
administrators said.
The projected fund equity
represents 3.6 percent of the cur-
rent expenditure and represents
two weeks of district operations,
or one payroll.
Last week, officials from
Wayne and Westland gathered
for the official dedication of the
new $3.1 million fire station
located onCentral CityParkway.
It was obviously a matter of
great pride for both Mayor
William Wild and Fire Chief
Mike Reddy who spoke at the
official ceremony, attended by a
large crowd. The new station,
built with Tax Increment
Finance Authority funds, was
also a matter of pride for mem-
bers of theTIFAboard.
The new 11,223-square-foot
station is named in honor of
Ralph Savini, the first Westland
Fire Chief and Mary Morian,
Savini's daughter, was in atten-
dance to see the tribute to her
father officially dedicated with
the cutting of a large red ribbon
by Wild, Reddy and City Council
President JamesGodbout.
The station, which replaces
the 50-year-old station on Ford
Road next to the former city hall
building, also features a training
room, enhanced technology and
is expected to cost less to operate
due to advanced energy efficien-
cies in the lighting, heating and
cooling systems, windows and
other construction. The new sta-
tion provide adequate storage for
the larger fire vehicles now in
use, officials said, and can also
provide proper storage for haz-
ardousmaterial.
Special
guest
Senator Hoon-Yung
Hopgood (D-Taylor)
welcomed local pastor
Tyson Nofzinger of
Westland
Free
Methodist Church, to
provide the invocation
for the opening of a
Senate session last
week. "I was very
pleased to welcome
Pastor Nofzinger to the
Senate floor today,"
Hopgood said. "His
words of encourage-
ment and blessing
remind us of the great responsibility we have as lawmakers to lead people, cre-
ate smart policies, and manage resources for our state." Nofzinger was raised in
Ohio and entered the ministry full time in 2005 after working as the director of
technology, and as a part-time instructor at a community college. He and his wife,
Bethany, have three daughters. He has served Westland Free Methodist Church
since June 2012.
