Greetings Village of Hopkins!
It is hard to believe that summer is almost done! As I write this, I know that many of you are cramming in the last bits of vacation while doing all of the back-to-school shopping and things that need to be done as we make the transition from summer to fall. Time surely does fly when we’re having fun!
Summer has been a good time for Hopkins! I enjoy seeing everyone out and about. Whether you’re sitting on the patio at Russo’s, getting ice cream, or just out for a walk or bike ride, enjoying the warm, sunny days is one of my favorite things about Michigan, and that is especially true in Hopkins. This summer has been especially fun for my family with our older two daughters learning to ride their two-wheeler bikes. We have enjoyed evening bike rides around town, taking full advantage of the small town, community environment that the Village offers. A side note to that: All your new roofs look great!
We’ve had some other great events too! I want to thank all of those who works so hard on our annual 4th of July celebration! It was another great day of community fun! I also hope you’ve had a chance to come out to one of our Hopkins Cruise Nights! They have been exceptionally fun community events that we hope to continue in the future! Our last Cruise Night is actually going to be a bit different. We’re calling it “Coffee & Cars” and will be held Saturday morning, September 9, from 8 – 10 AM. Come on down for some live music, breakfast food, and lots of cool cars! Thank you to those that have put it on and to all the sponsors as well.
As we collectively move into the fall season, there are new things to anticipate as a community! School is starting up again on August 28 which means traffic will be a little hairy from time to time. Franklin street, the street that the Library and Village/Township offices are on will remain closed for the time being due to construction. Incidentally, this had a positive impact on school traffic last year. There is the potential that this road may be made into one-way road (heading south from Main Street) in the future. The Council will be evaluating this after all of the construction is complete.
Additionally, fall brings all sorts of sports starting up again. Whether it’s football, soccer, cross country, or something else entirely, it is important to remember that these things are going on. Sporting events are some of the great community events that we have here in Hopkins. We come together to cheer on our kids and our teams and it’s a lot of fun! I truly think it is the “community feel” that so many of us love about Hopkins. With that in mind, here are a couple of thoughts about how we can maintain and even improve this community feel as a Village.
As sports start up again, especially at North Park, it brings all sorts of traffic and activity to that area. We’ve had trouble, lately, with vandalism in the bathrooms. Please encourage your children to be respectful of public property so that we can all enjoy it together. Additionally, we know that parking is limited around the park area, but we also want to encourage people to think before they just park on someone’s lawn or drive as well. The council has received complaints about this in the past and we just want to encourage everyone to be thoughtful about where you can and should park… and also to be mindful of the need for parking in that area.
We are also coming up on the time where additional yard work becomes a major thing for all of us. Most of us will still be mowing grass for months yet, but the addition of falling leaves will make that even more of a chore. Please remember that mowing and blowing your grass or leaves into the road is both dangerous and illegal. It also just makes a mess. The Council wants to encourage everyone to help us keep Hopkins a beautiful and safe place to live. If you can help us by clearing leaves away from storm drains, we would be most grateful! Please, also be mindful of your neighbors by not blowing leaves into their yard (even if it’s their tree). Hopkins has a mulch and brush pile that is open for all Village Residents, and we welcome your leaves, grass clippings, and brush. You can find it by heading south on Maple Street.
Just a note too: all of those recommendations go for snow as well. Please don’t blow or shovel snow into the road (it’s illegal) or your neighbor’s yard… at least not without talking to them and getting permission first.
We’ve also been experiencing some more instances of Blight in the village. Blight can be anything from overgrown weeds and unkept landscaping to broken-down and/or unlicensed vehicles, appliances, broken lights/glass, and/or other junk that is sitting out. This has been true at both residential and some commercial properties as well. The Council kindly asks that you give consideration to your property, including the rite-of-way areas by the road, and consider what/if there may need to be cleaned up. We will be going through the town in early September and will be sending letters to specific addresses to encourage clean-up. If you are in need of help with this, please contact me and I will work on connecting you with volunteers that would be able to help you!
One other thing too, and I know this feels a bit nit-picky: If you have an above-ground swimming pool that is not in a fenced-in yard, PLEASE take out the ladder when it is not in use. This, too, is about being a good neighbor. It is not safe to leave unsupervised access to a pool, particularly if/when children are around. Not only that, it is also a violation of our ordinance. We will include this is letters in September as necessary.
Finally, I wanted to offer a couple of quick updates on some work being down in the background:
The work to revise the current Village Charter from 1921 is now complete. Our final draft was approved by the Charter Revision Commission on August 1. We will be sending this draft to the State for approval and, if approved, it will then be presented to the Village of Hopkins for a vote in one of the elections that will be held next year. The Revision Draft is available on the Village Website; it is still a draft until it is passed in a vote.
The Village of Hopkins is nearing completion of our joint Master Plan and Parks & Recreation Plan with the Township. A 1st draft has been presented to both planning commissions and will be available for public review at the “Cars and Coffee” Cruise Morning on September 9. We would love your feedback on this as it helps us to get a better sense of what the community is looking for. Again, our goal is to set Hopkins up well for the future with plans that both move us forward and preserve the small-town feel, things that make Hopkins the incredible place to live that it is.
The Township Hall building project continues closer to its completion as well. Currently, the projected completion is by the end of October. The Village Council was approached by Mugen Construction Inc. with some offers to do a few updates on the Village Hall side of this building; these updates are available at a significantly reduced cost due to their ongoing work. We voted to take advantage of them now as the price was very good and we all know that things aren’t getting less expensive. This will be that there will be a period in September when the Village Hall building will be closed. You can always contact us via email, and we will be checking the mail as it comes to our PO Box. There will be an Open House once the building is complete where the public will be invited to see the completed facility.
Finally, I want to take a moment to inform you of an upcoming vote that the Council is bringing before Village residents in November. The Village Council will be asking residents to “Rollback” the current millage.
History: In 2013, the Village of Hopkins voted in favor of a 10-year special Millage that would be used for general operations for the Village. This amounted to 2 “mills”. A “mill” is equivalent to taxing $1.00 per $1,000 of the taxable value of your property (ie. If your property’s taxable value is $50,000 then your property taxes at “1 mill” would be $50 or 1 x 50). This 10-year Millage was in addition to the Charter-Allowed, normal millage that is maxes out at 10 Mills. All told, these two brought the maximum total Millage rate to 12 mills.
Currently, the Village levies a total of 7.1482 mills; the reason for this number will be made clear below. 5.4287 comes from our normal millage and 1.7195 from the special 10-year millage. Both of these are the maximum that the Village can levee at this time. At the end of this year, that extra millage would fall off, thus reducing the total millage rate (yes, reducing property taxes), but also shrinking the overall Village budget by at least $30,000 or a little over 10% of our budget next year.
Purpose: The purpose of this vote, then, would be to avert this budget fall-off. To do so, we have to “Roll Back” the Millage Rate to the full 10 mills that our Charter allows. This is part of what is known as the Headlee Amendment, which is designed to keep taxes on properties in check. Each year, there is a cap on how much a municipality can collect. Rolling back our operating millage to the 10 mils essentially resets the “countdown clock” for the Village. This was last done in Hopkins in 1995 when Proposal A passed. Since that time, the “10 mills” has gradually ticked downward leading to the 5.4287 mils that we can levee today. Even the 2 mills passed in 2013 has now become 1.7195. These is a purpose and design for this, the explanation of which is much more in-depth than this letter will allow. Rolling it back “resets” that number, as it were, giving the Council the flexibility, allowing us to determine the amount of those 10 mills that we actually levee (aka. How much taxes we actually collect) up to the maximum of 10 mils in that first year. This is a better option than another “special millage” because of its flexibility.
Every year after that, because of the Headlee Amendment, the maximum number (starting at 10) actually decreases by a percentage which is based on overall taxable value of the Village, inflation etc. It is kind of like starting a countdown that starts at 10 and then pauses each year. You can never rewind without a vote like this. In 1995, the Village was able to levee up to 10 mils; in 2023 that maximum number is 5.4287. The only reason we’ve been able to levee more is because of that additional 10-year millage. (I know… it’s confusing).
Language: This proposal will appear on a ballot in NOVEMBER 2023. It will read as follows:
VILLAGE OF HOPKINS CHARTER MILLAGE HEADLEE OVERRIDE BALLOT PROPOSAL
“Shall the authorized charter millage for the Village of Hopkins, established at 10 mills ($10.00 per $1,000 of taxable value) and reduced to 5.4287 mills ($5.4287 per $1,000 of taxable value), by the required millage rollbacks, be increased in an amount not to exceed 4.5713 mills ($4.5713 per $1,000 of taxable value) to restore the full amount of the original authorized charter millage? The estimate of the revenue the Village will collect is approximately $69,557.10, a portion of which (approximately $11,021) will be disbursed to the Village of Hopkins Downtown Development Authority.
Explanation: Reading this statement, it appears that what we are asking for is to essentially double your taxes. In technical terms, based solely on the operating millage allowed by the charter, that is correct. However, it does not take into consideration the 10-year special millage we’ve also had. It also doesn’t take into account that the Village Council does not plan to levee the full 10 mils.
The Village Council voted to move forward with this request because we feel like the work that the Village has been doing has been good. We’ve been able to work on roads, sidewalks, trees, and have had the ability to respond to needs as they arise as well. Additionally, we have great people employed at the Department of Public Works (DPW) who do maintenance and upkeep in the Village (and are also first responders to all medical/fire calls which gives us one of the fastest response times in Michigan). Part of that comes from the reality that we have the capacity to do these things, whether it be employment or contract work, because of the finances that we have which come from taxes.
One question that has been raised is about how this compares to places around the Village of Hopkins. This is a very difficult comparison because of the differences in the ability to tax of Townships and Cities. Hopkins Township only levies 1 mil, but that is also the maximum that they can levee. Cities like Wayland or Otsego can levee up to 20 mils. These aren’t “apples to apples” comparisons and so, as a Council, prefer to look at the needs of our community and only levee taxes according to those needs.
We are also aware of the current reality. Things like inflation have made it more difficult for all of us. Affordability of homes, groceries, utilities, and so much more has become increasingly problematic for many. We recognize that. While there had been some discussion about perhaps increasing taxes for a few years to get ahead on some projects, we recognize the financial strain that would put many families in. Therefore, we are committed to doing this in a way that doesn’t raise your taxes but rather replaces our two millages (5.4287 & 1.7195) with one at 7.1482.
Timing: This vote will happen on the first Tuesday (the 7th) in November of 2023. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the secondary millage will be falling off at the end of this calendar year. As such, we want to bring this to you, the voters, ahead of the end of the year so that we can effectively plan and budget for 2024. Additionally, we are able to do this free of any charge to the Village because there will already be an election that the Township will be doing for the Martin Public School district. We are simply jumping on to an existing election. We are aware that putting things like this on ballots when there isn’t a “normal” election can seem suspicious. This is why we are trying to be WAY out in front of this in both communication and transparency.
Recommendation: With all this in mind, it ultimately comes down to how you vote. There is a tendency, here, to “hold things hostage” in the event that this rollback doesn’t get passed. In reality, if this doesn’t pass, we will have to tighten our belts and do our best to provide the best level of service and care for the Village with less funds. But I don’t want to threaten or manipulate. I think this is a really good idea for the Village of Hopkins and would encourage you to vote yes on the millage rollback question in November. In either case, though, I, along with the council, are committed to making the Village of Hopkins the best community it can be.
If you ever have any questions or concerns that you would like to bring our way, please feel free to reach out! You can email me or Mike, our Clerk, at Clerk@villageofhopkins.org. You can call the Village Office at (269) 793-7344 as well and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We also invite you to the regular meetings of the Village Council. They happen on the Second Monday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Village Hall located at 128 Franklin St. Hopkins, MI 49328. It is possible that these meetings may need to be moved due to the construction. If that happens, we will communicate that to you through a variety of means with as much advanced notice as possible.
As always, it is a privilege to serve you as the Village President, and for each of us to lead and serve on the Village Council. We are grateful for the opportunity.
On behalf of the council, we wish you the best this fall as you enjoy the return to school, changing seasons, and the beauty that autumn brings here in Michigan.
Sincerely,
Jonathon VanderWall
Village of Hopkins President
President@villageofhopkins.org
(269) 793-7344
Village of Hopkins 