Mayor accuses county of playing politics over jail funding

Wayne County is now refusing to pay the city its yearly $1.4 million payment to operate its jail here in town.

By Charles Sercombe
The worst case scenario of the Wayne County Jail saga here in Hamtramck has played out as feared.
Wayne County has stopped making its yearly $1.4 million payments to the city to operate the jail, in lieu of paying property taxes.
The county was supposed to make its scheduled partial payment last week, but then city officials were told, two weeks prior, that the county was cutting off the money flow.
City officials are attempting to negotiate with the county to continue the payments, but so far there is not much to report on the progress of those talks.
The county has been in the process of consolidating its prisoners into a new jail facility that just opened, located a few minutes’ drive south of the city.
But that new facility has already been wracked with a number of problems.
What’s unclear is whether the William Dickerson Jail, built just 33 years ago here in town, has yet transferred any of its prisoners. This jail has been housing juvenile offenders for the last few years, but there have been a number of allegations about abuse of the teens.
City Attorney Odey Meroueh recently said, at a city council meeting, that even if the jail is empty, the county is still obligated to pay for the use of the facility.
He said that the only way the county can get out of its obligations would be to raze the building and keep it as an empty lot.
In the meantime, city officials have to grapple with the loss of such a sizable chunk of budget revenue.
Mayor Amer Ghalib says the city has a budget surplus that can absorb the hit for the next several years — although there is a deep-dive financial audit underway to determine exactly where the city’s finances currently stand.
Ghalib also accused the county executive office of playing politics, and exacting revenge for his endorsement of Donald Trump for president. Trump, a Republican, went on to win the election.
Wayne County elected officials are largely Democratic.
“It’s one of the consequences of the election, although Hamtramck voted for more Democrats, but it’s a collective punishment not understood at all,” Ghalib said.
Ghalib said he will take up the issue of funding with President-elect Trump .
“If I get a chance to talk to the president about this we will make it an issue, because this is punishment for a political stance that we took,” Ghalib said.
Ghalib helped galvanize a number of Arab Muslims in the metro area to turn away from the Democratic Party and instead throw their support to Trump. He also met with Trump a few times leading up the election.
Trump also visited a campaign office in the city.
There is speculation that Ghalib will now be given a job with the Trump administration.
Political observers say the Arab Muslim voting bloc in the metro area played a significant role in electing Trump, who won in Michigan.
Ghalib went on to say that “the political atmosphere is changing. We will try every possible way to obtain that money, and more money to support our community. We will survive.”
Posted Dec. 20, 2024