Ann Arbor Pays Thousands Monthly in Car Allowances and Mileage Reimbursements to City Employees With Desk Jobs

According to information provided to A2Politico in response to a FOIA, in Ann Arbor government, an attorney, planning department staffers, police officers, and even a DDA employee receive stipends worth $50 to $400 a month to put toward vehicles despite doing the majority of their work in city offices, or being provided a city vehicle for daily use. The stipends are paid to city employees who are among the most highly paid, and to many who live in the city.

Recently, it was revealed by A2Politico that the city’s elected officials have been looking the other way as $3.592 million dollars have been skimmed from the city’s Parks Millage Fund in the form of internal charges that have increased, in some cases, by as much as 400 percent over the past three years. In fact, a recently proposed cut to parks funding was revealed to violate city policy. In a piece posted to AnnArbor.com, Third Ward Council member Christopher Taylor was quoted as saying:

“We live in very difficult times. As you know, there are material cuts being proposed in safety services,” said Council Member Christopher Taylor, D-3rd Ward and an ex-officio member of PAC. “Another $90,000 is approximately one officer, approximately one firefighter.”

Taylor said there would need to be a permanent lasting cut somewhere else in the budget to restore that $90,000 to parks.

Shortly after Taylor’s claim that it was virtually impossible for Council to make a “permanent cut”  to restore the $90,000, a forensic Certified Public Accountant whom A2Politico asked to comb through this year’s proposed budget, identified instances in which there were millions in surpluses, as well as almost $4 million dollars in what were described as “pork projects,” primarily non-essential spending on new vehicles. The CPA also revealed that Ann Arbor city staffers have developed a multi-million dollar addiction to consultants, including remarkably, a desire to hire a consultant to help Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones decided whom to promote in his department of just 124 officers.

A2Politico also revealed recently that in the midst of growing budget woes, non-unionized Ann Arbor city staffers, some of the same staffers who are receiving monthly car allowances and mileage reimbursement payments to drive to and from work each day, have been allowed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on meals out, as well as on stays at luxury hotels, resorts & spas. In one instance, just days after staff recommended that firefighters be cut to close a budget gap, taxpayers treated staffers to an $871.50 meal at Afternoon Delight. In March 2009 Ann Arbor taxpayers also footed the bill for a $382.60 room charge at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, a $427.14 charge for a room at the Hilton, in Miami, Florida and a $578.91 room charge at the Omni Hotels Royal Hotel & Resort in New Orleans, Louisiana, a hotel described thusly on its web site: “The Omni Royal Orleans is a four-diamond luxury hotel located in the historic French Quarter.”

Recipients of the car allowances are among the most highly paid city employees—earning six-figure salaries plus over-sized benefit packages worth, on average $12,300 per year, more than double the marketplace average. City Attorney Stephen Postema receives a car allowance of $330.00 per month, which increases his $141,538 salary by $3,960 per year. Postema lives on Ann Arbor’s Old West Side and often walks to work. Public Services Director Sue McCormick, on the other hand, lives outside of Ann Arbor and commutes some 55 miles each way to and from work. FOIAed documents show that McCormick, who earns $135,600, gets $300 per month.

Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority, over the past several years, has doubled the number of staff the organization employs. The organization has also given hundreds of thousands of dollars of support to the getDowntown organization which encourages residents to explore using alternative transportation in order to commute to their jobs downtown. Among the programs is the go!pass program that provides bus passes. Under the auspices of the getDowntown program, Ann Arbor taxpayers are subsidizing bus rides for approximately 6,700 downtown workers, as well as students and staff of the University of Michigan (through the MCard—tip o’ the keyboard to Nancy Shore). go!pass bus passes cost downtown employers just $5 per employee per year.

Susan Pollay is the executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority and on the Advisory Board of the getDowntown organization. She told AnnArbor.com in 2010 that, “The DDA has been a committed supporter of the go!pass program as a partner in the getDowntown program for more than a decade.” In fact, Pollay handed out commuting “awards” last year which included an award for total number of sustainable commutes. Like Stephen Postema, Susan Pollay is one of the most highly paid city employees, earning $94,689. Pollay, who has a desk job, and who lives in Ann Arbor, is also paid a $315.63 per month car allowance. A go!pass for the DDA’s Executive Director would cost taxpayers $5 per year, versus the $3,787.56 car allowance she is paid in addition to her salary and benefits.

Like Pollay and Postema, Interim Administrator and CFO Tom Crawford is on the list of the most highly paid city employees; he earns $125,500 plus benefits. Desk jockey Crawford, who lives in Ann Arbor, also gets a monthly car allowance in the amount of $350.00.

Police Chief Barnett Jones, who has an office job as well as an entire fleet of police vehicles at his disposal for travel in the city, receives the largest monthly car allowance, $400. This is equal to that of former City Administrator Roger Fraser’s monthly car allowance. Fraser was fond of charging taxpayers for mileage. FOIAed documents show that while driving to a 2005 conference in Minneapolis, Fraser claimed over $846.33 in mileage costs for the 1,800 mile trip. The Rand-McNally mileage calculator lists the roundtrip mileage between Ann Arbor and Minneapolis as 1,310 miles. Fraser’s assistant, who accompanied him on the trip flew, and expense account records FOIAed show her airfare was just over $218.40.

All total, Ann Arbor taxpayers fork out over $100,000 in car allowance and mileage reimbursement money each year to 25 highly-paid, non-unionized city managers, most of whom have desk jobs. A list of the staffers who receive the benefit appears below: