MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — City employees in Muskegon Heights may have their paychecks delayed after the city council failed to pass its budget and millage rates by midnight on New Year's Day.
On Monday, Dec. 30, the Muskegon Heights City Council was scheduled to hold a special meeting to approve its 2025 millage rates, 2025 budget and 2024 budget amendments.
They needed five votes to pass the spending plan — a supermajority on the six-person board — but only four council members indicated they would show support, according to Interim City Manager Melvin Burns II.
The meeting was canceled and the budget and millage rates missed the end-of-year deadline.
"It's a serious situation," Burns said. "I don't doubt the council sees it the same way."
Burns presented the council with his budget proposal in November. In the weeks since, he says discussions on the plan were repeatedly tabled and no votes were taken.
"Again, we need to get this done," Burns said to FOX 17 in a Zoom interview on Tuesday. "We don't need it to linger."
Like most municipalities, the city of Muskegon Heights makes money through millages and spends it by way of the budget. Until both are passed, Burns says he's "not comfortable" signing paychecks or approving new purchases.
"If [city employees] work, they will get paid at some point," Burns said.
The interim city manager says he expects essential employees — including public safety and wastewater treatment workers — to "report to work as normal." As for those in "less-than-central categories," Burns said on Tuesday that the city had not yet made a decision but planned to meet with many employees upon their return from the holiday.
"If they choose to work, they will get paid," Burns said. "Probably won't be any penalty for them not working. That's what I'm thinking right now. We will try to hold off with the expenditures until we have the appropriations in place."
Regardless of a potential delay in paychecks or a possible reduction in staffing, Burns says residents of Muskegon Heights should not notice "any change" in city services.
"I don't want to understate the frustration that we have with this not being done," he said. "But I expect everybody to be professional. I think we all know that it'll get done at some point."
The Muskegon Heights City Council will next meet on Monday, Jan. 6.
