Warren Mayor Jim Fouts: State passes down unfunded mandate on fireworks

Michigan residents will be in store for a Fourth of July unlike any previous.

Thanks to the Michigan Legislature's misguided 2011 decision to allow Ohio-style major fireworks such as Roman candles and heavy duty fire crackers, Michigan residents now face major dangers.

The act restricts local communities from protecting their residents from the hazards and nuisance fireworks may cause. This decision reverses decades of state laws designed to protect children from being maimed by explosive devices, pets from unwanted noise, seniors from sleep disruption and deprivation, and homes from flash fires brought on by wayward fireworks.

The state gains a licensing fee of $600-$1,000 and 6 percent tax from fireworks sold, while cities get the honor of enforcement without any financial gain.

Warren, like many cities, will have an increased cost of overtime for police and fire. And we will not be able to retrieve any of the fines imposed by those who commit an illegal fireworks act.

Thus, while the state expects the city to confiscate illegal fireworks, we will receive no enforcement dollars, since enforcement is under the state's civil infraction law. The state gets all money from a fine while the city can only charge for the cost of storage.

Financial enforcement is the state's gain. Physical confiscation is left to the city. Furthermore, the state usurps the right of the city to enforce existing laws dealing with fireworks on the day before July 4 and the day following.

I have received numerous complaints from Warren residents about this potential disaster in the making, as well as the continual onslaught of fireworks noise into the wee hours of the morning. The July 4th fireworks have already begun.

Warren resident Maria Pillitson has complained about the overloading of fireworks for the last two to three weeks. Chris Milewski wants existing fireworks laws enforced. A few years ago, Milewski's neighbor landed fireworks on his roof. He is concerned about his fireworks-addicted neighbor, who might cost him his home or, at a minimum, his roof.

Former White Lake Township Fire Chief Samuel Leonard Shepard, now a Warren resident, is very concerned about potential fires caused by these new very powerful fireworks. Angela Ditch is concerned about dangers posed to her property by these powerful fireworks.

How many more garage fires will there be? How many more children will have their fingers, hands and other limbs blown off by fireworks?

The Fireworks Safety Act of 2011 is costly both to cities and to the safety of all state residents.

Jim Fouts is the mayor of Warren.

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