A guide to Ann Arbor’s ballot proposals

This election cycle, Ann Arbor voters will decide whether to approve local ballot proposals focusing on sustainable energy, park maintenance, city primary elections and campaign finance. The Michigan Daily spoke with local elected officials and advocates to understand the potential impacts of each of these four proposals. 

Proposal A: Creation of a Sustainable Energy Utility

Proposal A would establish a publicly-owned Sustainable Energy Utility, a fee-based service that residents could use to supplement their current electricity, heat, cooling, light or energy with renewable sources from local solar, geothermal and battery storage systems in the city. Proposal A would not institute any new taxes — residents could opt in to the program and pay fees based on the services they request. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor explained how the SEU would function practically for Ann Arbor residents.

“A Sustainable Energy Utility would enable us to roll out 100% renewable, reliable energy for folks who sign up, without raising taxes,” Taylor said. “It will enable the city to buy and source heat pumps and energy-efficient home improvements, for people who choose to participate in the SEU, at a cost we project to be below market value.”

Proposal B: Authorizing Tax for Park Maintenance and Capital Improvements

Proposal B would renew the city’s current tax millage of up to 1.10 mills for park maintenance and capital improvements until 2044. A property owner would continue to pay $1.10 in taxes for every $1,000 in taxable property value to finance park improvements and replace old equipment. The current millage was approved by residents during the Nov. 7, 2006 election and is set to expire this year.

Proposal C: Non-Partisan Elections

Proposal C would eliminate primaries for Ann Arbor elections and remove any indicators of party affiliation next to candidates’ names.

Written by the Coalition for Ann Arbor’s Future after the city’s August primary had historically low voter turnout, Prop C suggests the removal of August primaries, instead relying solely on votes cast in the November general elections.

John Godfrey, spokesperson and organizer for Coalition for Ann Arbor’s Future, said he believes the proposal would boost student voices in a September interview with The Daily.

“A lot of Ann Arbor is out of town in early August,” Godfrey said. “People are not here or not paying attention. … Student support for these proposals in November will really fundamentally change the ability of students to really take an active, meaningful role in the life of the city where they’re living and studying.”

Godfrey also spoke to The Daily in September about how he believes nonpartisan elections encourage voters to research candidates’ individual platforms and values.

“Most American cities have nonpartisan elections,” Godfrey said. “This means if you’re running for office in a nonpartisan election, you don’t have a label. You can’t just say ‘Vote for me because I’m a Democrat’ or ‘Vote for me because I’m a Republican.’ You have to explain what it is you actually want to do and what you believe in. You have to connect with your constituents more, and it forces greater transparency and not reliance on a simple label.”

The Huron Valley Area Labor Federation, an organization representing 20,000 local labor union members in the Washtenaw, Livingston, Jackson and Hillsdale counties, opposed Proposal C in an August press release. HVALC president Ian Robinson told The Daily in September he believed listing party affiliations on the ballot is valuable to voters.

“It’s dangerous to eliminate parties, because at least if there’s a party structure and the party means something,” Robinson said. “There are some boundaries to what you can believe in, fight for and do if you’re going to stay in the Democratic Party. For low-information voters, like I was, and like most of us are — certainly most students are — it helps at least to have the party label to go by.”

Proposal D: Fair Elections Fund

Proposal D would set aside 0.3% of the city’s general fund to match donor funding for City Council and mayoral candidates’ campaigns who volunteer to receive contributions in lower amounts from only natural-born citizens. The percentage set aside would amount to approximately $425,000, according to Taylor. The city’s general fund aims to provide services related to areas such as public safety, recreation programs, city planning and development and housing and human service programs.

Voters Not Money, the advocacy group responsible for the “Vote Yes to Prop D” campaign, state on their website that they believe the proposal would lead to the election of individuals who better represent the average Ann Arbor resident.

“A small-donor matching fund removes financial barriers, allowing ordinary people to run for office and win,” the website reads. “By relying on small-dollar contributions from residents, public officials become more accountable to voters — not special interests.”

The State Attorney General’s office has reviewed Proposal D and found its content and language to be incongruent with state law requirements. If passed by Ann Arbor voters, the proposal would likely face litigation at the state level.

Mayor Taylor expressed his concerns about Proposal D in an interview with The Daily, saying the city does not have money to spare for a campaign fund, and the proposal incorrectly assumes that large amounts of money are spent on local elections.

“I think it’s deeply unwise,” Taylor said. “We don’t have $425,000 to remove from services to pay for political campaigns. Further, there are no fraud protections or threshold requirements, as is common with campaign matching systems. And finally, it imagines a local-level corollary to the massive amounts spent at the federal level … big money is not in local elections.”

Eligible residents can register to vote in person until polls close on Election Day, or online until Oct. 21. Early voting locations, which include the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the Duderstadt Center, will be open around the city from Saturday, Oct. 26 to Sunday, Nov. 3. Absentee ballots must be requested by Nov. 1 and returned by mail or dropbox by Election Day. 

Daily Staff Reporter Hailey Nichols can be reached at haileyni@umich.edu.

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