Kids Filling Potholes? When the State Fails to Fund our Cities, Basic Services Fall to Children
Mayor Kimberley Sims, SaveMICity Ambassador, recognizes Monte Scott for filling potholes, blames revenue sharing losses for crumbling roads
Monte Scott, a 12-year-old Muskegon Heights resident, decided to take matters into his own hands by filling potholes in his neighborhood.
Last week, a video was posted to Facebook showing the elementary school student using a shovel and dirt from his own backyard to fill potholes on his street. The video has garnered more than 1.4K views.
Muskegon Times reports that the Muskegon Heights City Council took time to honor Scott for choosing to step up by filling potholes in his neighborhood.
“I wasn’t expecting the attention,” said Scott, who received a plaque and a series of paintings from council members.
Scott has gained state and national coverage for his deeds, shining more light on the conversation around crumbling infrastructure. Scott received a phone call from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who said, “As a governor, I’m really proud of you.”
During the council meeting, SaveMICity Ambassador and Muskegon Heights Mayor Kimberley Sims explained that since 2002, Muskegon Heights has lost $10.2 million in revenue sharing. In total, $8.6 billion has been diverted from cities, villages and townships across Michigan.
“When you look at that, those funds could have been diverted towards our roads,” Sims said.
The 2008 recession ravaged Muskegon Heights and continuous decreases in revenue sharing have made it difficult for the city to keep a balanced budget, pay personnel, and fix infrastructure. As a result, Muskegon Heights went to its voters to secure a $3 million road millage to fix some of the local crumbling roads in 2017.
If Muskegon Heights had received the $10.2 million in state funding, “it could’ve given us more employees on the streets, crack sealer and preventative maintenance,” Sims said. “Muskegon Heights isn’t the only pothole-filled city; cities across the state are dealing with that.”
What’s happening in Muskegon Heights is a symptom of a much larger problem in Michigan and it could happen in any community in our state because Michigan’s system for funding its communities is broken. Michigan ranks dead last in the nation in terms of investment into its communities. SaveMICity.org and SaveMICity supporters like Mayor Sims are working to fix the broken system.
The full article can be found on Muskegon Times’ website. Find out how you can join the effort to fix Michigan’s broken system for funding its communities at SaveMICity.org.