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Cost of beauty in Garden City: $15 million City refuses to pay landscaper $2.8 million, now taxpayers will foot the bill for huge jury award. By Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News GARDEN CITY -- This suburb's attempt to live up to its name, through a $2.8 million beautification program, will end up costing its citizens more than $15 million. That's the amount Garden City must pay a contractor forced out of business when the city refused to pay overruns on a water main and streetscape project. Wayne Oakland Contracting Inc. claimed -- and a Wayne County jury agreed -- that the city was responsible for expensive, last-minute alterations to the original plan. The Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal, because, the justices said in an order made public Tuesday, "we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court." The $12 million jury award, plus interest, will cost the owner of a home valued at $96,000 just over $100 a year, for up to 15 years. The Canton-based contractor had offered to settle for $1 million, but the city decided to fight it. That decision was costly. "Is it fair? Absolutely not," said Garden City resident Jeff Steele, 33. "But there's nothing you can do. If they say you've got to pay, you've got to pay. "If they paid the contractor to do the work, they should have been paid. I don't know what they were thinking, fighting it in court, but it doesn't make sense to me. It's made the value of the homes go down a bit." Added resident Dave Shrader: "When you're getting nickeled and dimed, you have a city that is cutting its budget and not hiring, to turn around and pay that amount, it's frustrating. "We're not going to get anything out of it. There's no added value. Due to mismanagement, now we have to pay for it." Garden City hired Wayne Oakland Contracting in 1998 to beautify the city's downtown district at Ford Road and Middle Belt for $2.8 million. Yellow lilies were planted along streets, and flower arrangements added to street poles. The city caused costly delays in the project by failing to obtain easements, ordering the wrong materials and repeatedly changing its orders, according to Wayne Oakland Contracting's attorney, Mark McAlpine. The lawsuit originally sought $700,000.In 2002, a Wayne County jury agreed with the contractor's claims of breach of contract, fraudulent inducement and abandonment of contract. The Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court upheld the ruling. With interest, the verdict exceeds $15.5 million, McAlpine said. "We wish the Supreme Court would have taken a closer look at the case," said City Manager David Harvey. "I believe we had some very strong issues in the case, but it doesn't really matter anymore. We have to put this behind us to make sure we don't end up in this situation again." In May, with the case on appeal, Garden City voters authorized the sale of bonds to cover the award in the event it lost before the Supreme Court. If the city had to borrow $17.5 million, city officials said at the time, the amount for the average homeowner would be about $140 a year for up to 15 years. Updated numbers could not be obtained Tuesday. "We are quite pleased the Michigan Supreme Court has upheld the jury's verdict," McAlpine said. "The jury concluded Garden City was wrongfully blaming Wayne Oakland for problems, which were actually caused by the city, in order to deflect citizen complaints about the slow progress on the project. Unfortunately, Wayne Oakland is still out of business."