lansing mayor virg bernero

Lansing city council votes on FY2014 budget tonight

Steve Carmody — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:30:00 +0000

The Lansing city council votes tonight on a budget for next year.

The vote will likely put the council at odds with Mayor Virg Bernero.

The mayor wants to fill a five million dollar hole in the 2014 budget, with added annual fees for city water and electricity customers. The money would pay for streetlights and fire hydrants.

Last week, the city council dumped the fees from the budget.

Showdown brewing over Lansing's city budget for next year

Steve Carmody — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:00:25 +0000

The Lansing city council has rejected a plan to increase fees on city utility customers.

Today the city council approved a budget plan that axes the 46-dollar utility fee and several million dollars in spending in the mayor’s proposed budget for next year. Final council approval is expected Monday night.

“I think many of us had heard the concerns that people wanted to make sure we were making the cuts that needed to be made,” says Carol Wood, Lansing city council president.

Lansing's mayor wants a third term

Steve Carmody — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:00:39 +0000

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero says he wants four more years in office. He formally announced his campaign today.

“I’m telling you folks … Lansing is on the verge,” the partisan crowd groaned, and then laughed, as Virg Bernero joked at his campaign kickoff.

Time is running short for Lansing city council to make changes to proposed FY2014 budget

Steve Carmody — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:55:15 +0000

Time is running out for the Lansing city council to come up with changes to the mayor’s budget proposal for next year.

The city council must approve a budget plan in two weeks. Council members have been poring over the mayor’s 112 million dollar budget proposal for the past month.

Carol Wood is the Lansing city council president. She says there are some items that could be cut from the budget.

In this morning's news: Affirmative action, Flint wants to remove EM, balancing Lansing's budget

Emily Fox — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:45:40 +0000

U.S. Supreme Court looks at affirmative action case in Michigan

"The U.S. Supreme Court will review Michigan’s ban on race- and gender-based affirmative action in university admissions. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is defending the amendment to the state constitution. It was adopted by voters in 2006," Rick Pluta reports.

Flint City Council takes steps to remove EM

"The Flint City Council is asking Governor Rick Snyder to remove the city’s emergency manager and phase out state control of its finances. The council unanimously approved a measure last night to request a state-appointed transition board to oversee the city’s finances," Jake Neher reports.

Lansing Mayor wants residents to pay more for utilities to help with city budget

"Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero wants to close the city’s looming budget deficit by asking city utility customers to pay another $46 a year. Bernero delivered his $112 million proposed budget to the city council last night," Steve Carmody reports.

Lansing's mayor wants city utility customers to help close the city's projected budget deficit

Steve Carmody — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:59:22 +0000

Lansing’s mayor is proposing its municipal utility customers pay more to balance the city’s budget next year.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero outlined his budget plan to the city council last night. Bernero says the city’s budget problems are not quite as serious as expected. The mayor says better than expected property tax collections and lower than expected city employee health care costs had cut the project budget deficit in half.

Still, Bernero says the city needs to close about a five million dollar budget gap.

Lansing's mayor rolls out his proposed budget Monday night

Steve Carmody — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:57:00 +0000

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero will deliver his proposed city budget for the next year to the city council tomorrow.

The mayor’s proposed budget is expected to deal with a projected nine million dollar budget shortfall.

A team appointed by Mayor Bernero suggested deep contract concessions by the city’s police and fire unions, among other cuts.

Tom Krug is the executive director with the local Fraternal Order of Police.

Looking for other ideas to solve Lansing's budget woes

Steve Carmody — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:48:55 +0000

A special committee set up to study the city of Lansing’s financial problems heard from the public last night.

The committee’s preliminary report is due March 1st. The panel is looking at changes to Lansing’s retirement plan and other possible spending cuts.

Several dozen people showed up last night to share their ideas. UAW vice president Stan Shuck doesn’t want any more cuts to city employees and city services. He wants to see ideas for raising revenue.

Lansing mayor to deliver State of the City address tonight

Steve Carmody — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 05:42:00 +0000

Lansing’s mayor plans to celebrate the city’s recent growth in manufacturing in his State of the City address tonight night.

But the city’s lingering financial problems will also be on the agenda.

Lansing mayor Virg Bernero has used his previous seven State of the City addresses to highlight positive economic news in the capitol city. He’ll do the same thing this year.

Bernero says he plans to talk about expanding auto production in the Lansing area as well as mention other downtown development projects.

Lansing city council irked by mayor's trip to Italy

Steve Carmody — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:43:53 +0000

Lansing city council members are upset that the city’s mayor left last week on a trip to Europe and didn’t bother to tell them.

Mayor Virg Bernero is on a week-long ‘economic mission’ in Italy. But city council members first heard the mayor was gone from news reports.

The mayor’s spokesman says Bernero remains in contact with the city by phone and email.

Councilwoman Carol Wood says that's not good enough if there is a sudden crisis.

The future of Lansing's old Red Cedar golf course is on the line Tuesday

Steve Carmody — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:22:59 +0000

Lansing voters will decide next week if they are willing to put 48 acres of an old city golf course up for sale.

Voters approved selling 12 acres of the Red Cedar golf course last year. But developers say they need the rest of the park to attract major retailers and other investment.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero is optimistic that city voters will approve selling the other 48 acres. He expects investment will come quickly, if the land is allowed to be put up for sale.

Lansing's financial health will be reviewed by panel appointed by the mayor

Steve Carmody — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:40:58 +0000

Lansing’s mayor has appointed a committee to take a hard look at the capital city’s financial health.

The committee is made up of some of Lansing’s top business and civic leaders.

Declining property taxes and state revenue sharing dollars combined with rising costs are squeezing Lansing’s finances.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero says the committee will come up with short-term and long-term proposals for dealing with the city’s financial problems.

Former mayor David Hollister will chair the committee.

Lansing mayor uses his veto pen, city council president "disappointed"

Steve Carmody — Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:40 +0000

Mayor Virg Bernero today vetoed a portion of the city budget plan approved by the Lansing City Council Monday night.

The city council now has two weeks to see if it can override the veto.

Lansing City Council passes budget, mayor's veto looms

Steve Carmody — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:06:19 +0000

In the next few days, Lansing mayor Virg Bernero is expected to veto all or part of the budget plan the city council passed.

Bernero indicated his intention to veto the budget during a sometimes contentious city council meeting last night. He did little, if anything, to conceal his contempt for the changes the city council made to the budget plan he submitted two months ago.

LCC offers to buy parking lot, option on vacant Oliver Towers apartment building too.

Steve Carmody — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:36:05 +0000

The city of Lansing may finally be close to selling a long vacant apartment building that’s a short distance from the state capitol.

The Oliver Towers has been closed for a decade since it was heavily damaged by a fire.

Numerous attempts to sell the property have failed.