(New Buffalo, MI) - New Buffalo Mayor John Humphrey will still be at the plate swinging a bat for the city after serving the final day of an often stormy but productive term.

 

Humphrey said he will be working as a private contractor with other groups to fight at the state level of government for changes that would benefit New Buffalo and other municipalities.

 

For example, Humphrey said he hopes to be directly involved in an effort to secure more state sales tax revenue for communities like New Buffalo to offset costs associated with tourism paid by local governments.

 

Currently, he said “$50 to $60 million” is spent on various goods in New Buffalo each year primarily during the tourism season.

 

In return, though, Humphrey said the city receives only about $180,000 a year in sales tax revenue from the state.

 

Humphrey said the amount from Lansing hardly covers the expense of things like fixing streets with shorter lifespans from more visitors traveling in New Buffalo.

 

He said residents paying higher property taxes should not be the solution to filling the financial gap.

 

“People that live here should not be carrying the cost of having tourists come here while businesses make all of the money,” he said.

 

He also wants to push for a change in how the state distributes other sources of money so the amount collected by the city is more balanced with the much higher amount received by the school system.

 

“I have various windows where we can work on these things on behalf of the town and I’m happy to do it,” he said.

 

Humphrey said he chose not to run again because the 20 or more hours he spent on what’s a part time  job paying $2,500 a year took too much of his time away from his work in the private sector.

 

“I need to get back to making more income than I was able to devoting as much time as I was to this,” he said.

 

Humphrey said he also had his family to think about financially.

 

“To continue to do this would be an additional drain on the resources that I provide them. It was time for me to take a break,” he said.

 

Humphrey served as mayor during his first and only term on the city council when chosen by his colleagues to act in that capacity. 

 

Ranking highest on his list of achievements included changes in the city’s zoning ordinance to ban new short term rentals from operating in residential areas and casting the deciding vote not legalize the retail sale of marijuana in the city.

 

Humphrey said as many as 10 marijuana shops could have opened in the city limits in addition to the numerous dispensaries that have already and continue to go up in New Buffalo Township along Michigan 239 and U.S. 12.

 

He said dispensaries in the city would have added traffic to the heavy congestion already experienced during the summer and further increased the complaints of marijuana use at the beach since the marijuana shops began opening in the township.

 

“It would have been a disaster,” he said.

 

His final day will be November 18 when the city council is sworn into office and appoints a new mayor.