Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi warns of city services shutting down amid budget battle

Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi is warning that city services may shut down starting next week because a budget has not yet been passed by the City Council, accusing some council members of being unreasonable. But a city councilwoman said Thursday it was Bazzi who is being unreasonable, accusing him of submitting a budget that was not balanced and hiring people not approved by the council.

"Dearborn Heights administration and staff, frustrated by the City Council’s repeated rejection of their proposed (balanced) budget proposal, have taken steps to prepare for a close-down of all city services effective July 1," reads a message that pops up on the home page of the city's website when readers visit it. The message, which was also emailed to some journalists, alleges the City Council has reviewed and rejected several budget proposals, including at this week's council meeting.

Bazzi said the shutdown could affect the policing of the city and trash pickup.

“If we don’t have an approved budget approved by June 30, we are, by the Public Act 2 law, not allowed to make expenditures of any type on behalf of the city beginning July 1," said Bazzi, referring to a state law on budgets for municipalities. "This will result in a shut-down of all city services."

Dearborn Heights City Councilwoman Denise Malinowski Maxwell, who challenged Bazzi for mayor in 2021 and lost, said Bazzi is the one responsible for the budget problems.

"If you watch the first budget meeting City Council held, we had to end it because the budget was a mess and the meeting was unproductive," Maxwell told the Free Press. "Every year the budget is due the same time. There is plenty of time to make sure it’s balanced before it is presented to the council. As a member of City Council I cannot and will not approve a budget that is not balanced."

Maxwell also alleges that Bazzi is hiring people he favors for "new positions he has created, the unauthorized bonuses he has handed out to certain individuals and the unapproved contracts he has given to certain individuals." Maxwell said the council "tried removing these positions because we knew it would be a financial hardship on the city and the mayor has ignored our direction."

Dearborn Heights City Council Chair Mo Baydoun, who also often criticizes Bazzi, did not return an email seeking comment.

The standoff is the latest dispute in a city of about 63,000 residents that has seen population growth as immigrants flock to the suburb that borders Dearborn, but faces political divisions.

Some of the dispute is over Police Chief Jerrod Hart, who was appointed in February 2022. In a statement from the city in January, Hart said he faced retaliation as he fought corruption and mismanagement, working with the Department of Justice on improving police operations. Hart accused the Police Department of fixing tickets at the request of City Council members, traffic stop quotas for overtime, excessive use of force, command officers exhibiting sexually inappropriate behavior and failing to process pistol purchase permits, among other accusations.

Hart said in January that as a result of the backlash against him, he took a leave of absence "to address employment-induced health concerns" he said he suffered "due to the continued harassment, retaliation, gaslighting and ghosting of our work and continued employment stability."

In an interview last year with the Dearborn Press and Guide, Hart, formerly the Saline police chief, said some police officers in Dearborn Heights were being negligent, such as abusing sick days and spending time at work getting their cars repaired.

A 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and immigrant from Lebanon, Bazzi was previously an engineer for Ford and Boeing. He was the city's first Muslim and first Arab American to be mayor. In his message Wednesday, Bazzi called his opponents "rogue." Bazzi added that some on City Council have made difficult demands, such as providing them with photocopies of federal W-2 payroll forms of city employees.

"Unless our council decides to approve our 2024-25 budget this week, we are essentially out of business," Bazzi said. "I honestly regret having to take this measure, but when I took this office, I swore to do everything by the book. We have presented multiple proposed budgets, which have been rejected. I will not tolerate these rogue individuals’ attempts to coerce us into continuing to do business without a budget — which is illegal by state law."

The next City Council meeting is set for 5 p.m. Friday.

Contact Niraj Warikoo:nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi: City services could shut down