By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The city of Zeeland is in solid fiscal shape, due in large part to the city’s strong tax base, which is largely supported by industry and commercial businesses.
But what if a major taxpayer – possibly Consumers Energy – planned to leave the city?
The City Council heard a report at its Dec. 1 meeting from a consulting team from Municipal Analytics and Double Haul Solutions on the city’s financial sustainability going forward. It gives the city high marks for its fiscal management and forward-thinking mindset.
“It says a lot about council and staff’s willingness to think ahead, to plan, to be proactive,” Municipal Analytics principal John Kaczor told the council. “Many communities are reactive.”
The team’s executive summary states that there’s a “high likelihood” that Consumers’ generating station on Fairview Street will be closed within the next 15 years, although utility officials say there are no such plans in the works. The report cites the state’s Healthy Climate Plan, backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, that seeks to place greater emphasis on renewable energy sources.
The natural gas-fired Consumers Zeeland plant accounts for nearly 38 percent of the city’s tax base. During the 2023-24 fiscal year, the plant had a taxable value of $208 million, which generated approximately $2.32 million in general fund tax revenue for the city, according to the report.
Overall, non-residential uses such as industry account for more than 69 percent of the city’s taxable value. That has allowed the city to offer a high level of services while at the same time maintaining a low tax rate and healthy fund balances, Kaczor said.
“Because we’re likely 10-15 years down the road (before a potential closure), we’ve got time to think about this and plan and strategize,” Kaczor said.
Some of the recommendations offered by the consultants toward addressing a potential loss of tax revenue include increasing user fees, increasing cost recovery from utility funds, going back to a part-time/paid on-call fire department, and perhaps most controversially, adopting a single-hauler waste collection policy.
“If you have four or five trucks every week driving down the same street to pick up a can here and a can there, that doubles, triples, quadruples the stress on the streets, which accelerates the deterioration of the street surface,” Double Haul Solutions chief executive officer Nate Geinzer said.
The city currently has seven licensed waste-haulers. The City Council considered going to a single-hauler system in 2010, but decided against it in the wake of strong community opposition that believed residents should have a choice on which hauler they use to pick up their trash.
Consumers officials say there are no plans to close down the Zeeland generating facility.
“It remains an important part of our generation portfolio, and we expect it to continue operating well into the future,” company spokeswoman Trisha Bloembergen said. “Our goal is to ensure Zeeland remains a strong partner in powering Michiganders’ homes and businesses.
Consumers invested $37 million into expanding the Zeeland facility earlier this summer, which included installation of an Advanced Gas Path system to boost power output and fuel efficiency, and an Advanced Fuel System to better control how fuel is mixed.
“These enhancements have increased fuel efficiency by approximately 2.5 percent, supporting our commitment to reliability and sustainability,” Bloembergen said.
Consumers plans to submit an updated energy supply plan next year that will outline the utility’s strategy for the next 20 years, Bloembergen said.
Zeeland Record
The city of Zeeland is in solid fiscal shape, due in large part to the city’s strong tax base, which is largely supported by industry and commercial businesses.
But what if a major taxpayer – possibly Consumers Energy – planned to leave the city?
The City Council heard a report at its Dec. 1 meeting from a consulting team from Municipal Analytics and Double Haul Solutions on the city’s financial sustainability going forward. It gives the city high marks for its fiscal management and forward-thinking mindset.
“It says a lot about council and staff’s willingness to think ahead, to plan, to be proactive,” Municipal Analytics principal John Kaczor told the council. “Many communities are reactive.”
The team’s executive summary states that there’s a “high likelihood” that Consumers’ generating station on Fairview Street will be closed within the next 15 years, although utility officials say there are no such plans in the works. The report cites the state’s Healthy Climate Plan, backed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, that seeks to place greater emphasis on renewable energy sources.
The natural gas-fired Consumers Zeeland plant accounts for nearly 38 percent of the city’s tax base. During the 2023-24 fiscal year, the plant had a taxable value of $208 million, which generated approximately $2.32 million in general fund tax revenue for the city, according to the report.
Overall, non-residential uses such as industry account for more than 69 percent of the city’s taxable value. That has allowed the city to offer a high level of services while at the same time maintaining a low tax rate and healthy fund balances, Kaczor said.
“Because we’re likely 10-15 years down the road (before a potential closure), we’ve got time to think about this and plan and strategize,” Kaczor said.
Some of the recommendations offered by the consultants toward addressing a potential loss of tax revenue include increasing user fees, increasing cost recovery from utility funds, going back to a part-time/paid on-call fire department, and perhaps most controversially, adopting a single-hauler waste collection policy.
“If you have four or five trucks every week driving down the same street to pick up a can here and a can there, that doubles, triples, quadruples the stress on the streets, which accelerates the deterioration of the street surface,” Double Haul Solutions chief executive officer Nate Geinzer said.
The city currently has seven licensed waste-haulers. The City Council considered going to a single-hauler system in 2010, but decided against it in the wake of strong community opposition that believed residents should have a choice on which hauler they use to pick up their trash.
Consumers officials say there are no plans to close down the Zeeland generating facility.
“It remains an important part of our generation portfolio, and we expect it to continue operating well into the future,” company spokeswoman Trisha Bloembergen said. “Our goal is to ensure Zeeland remains a strong partner in powering Michiganders’ homes and businesses.
Consumers invested $37 million into expanding the Zeeland facility earlier this summer, which included installation of an Advanced Gas Path system to boost power output and fuel efficiency, and an Advanced Fuel System to better control how fuel is mixed.
“These enhancements have increased fuel efficiency by approximately 2.5 percent, supporting our commitment to reliability and sustainability,” Bloembergen said.
Consumers plans to submit an updated energy supply plan next year that will outline the utility’s strategy for the next 20 years, Bloembergen said.
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