Proposed revisions to Detroit’s charter can’t appear on the August ballot due to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s refusal to sign off on the proposed changes, a Wayne County circuit court has ruled.
Judge Timothy Kenny’s decision to decertify the ballot measure came Wednesday in one of two lawsuits filed last week by several citizens and Rev. Horace Sheffield III.
"In the absence of approval from the governor, the proposed charter revision cannot be placed on the ballot and submitted to the voters" based on language in the Home Rule City Act, Kenny wrote in his decision.
The Detroit Charter Review Commission is planning an appeal citing the state review that said the governor’s lack of approval would not stand in the way of putting the measure to voters.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s finance team has warned the city can’t afford what it contends is a $2 billion price tag over four years and that the changes the charter commission proposes could drive the city bank into bankruptcy. The commission characterizes those warnings as faulty and exaggerated.
The city and charter commission had been at odds over the impact of Whitmer’s decision.
The judge’s decision impacts both lawsuits filed against Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and the Detroit Election Commission seeking to block the printing of Aug. 3 ballots with the proposed revisions. The election commission voted May 13 to approve the ballot question. The charter commission joined as an intervening defendant.
The litigation argued without the governor’s approval the ballot measure known as Proposition P would violate the Home Rule City Act, because it requires the governor’s review and approval, a position city attorneys had also taken in a discussion with city council members.
The judge agreed.
Kenny also questioned the charter commission’s assertion that it could continue to redraft with revisions’ language past an May 11 deadline to send the question to the clerk.
“No Michigan law authorizes such a power to a Charter Revision Commission," Kenny said in the decision.
Charter officials had said they could continue to make changes to address the city and state concerns and went ahead and made some modifications earlier this month and returned the new document to Whitmer for further review. Whitmer declined to review it, noting the deadline for the ballot wording had passed.
The commission said it would appeal.
“Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel agree that the governor has absolutely no power to prevent a revised charter from being considered by Detroit voters. This fact was made very clear in the Governor’s April 30, 2021 letter to the Commission,” charter commission chair Carol Weaver said in a statement reported by The Detroit News.
The charter commission established by a 2018 public vote must disband three years after its Aug. 6 2018 creation so the Aug. 3 ballot is the last chance to put revisions to a public vote.
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The junk-rated city must maintain balanced operations to retain the waiver and Duggan administration officials warned that the proposed changes threatened its fiscal balance.
