Fire renewal vote in August

A single ballot question to renew fire and emergency service millage will be on the Aug. 2 ballot, following a 6-0 vote by the Independence Township Board at a May 3 special meeting.
The four-year renewal would set the millage at 3.5653 – $3.57 per $1,000 of taxable value on all taxable property in the township. It would collect an estimated $5,197,621 in the first year if approved and levied.
The proposed millage is 0.1935 mills less than the total millage, which was approved in 2012. Independence Township Attorney Steven Joppich said this was due to Headlee rollbacks.
Township Supervisor Pat Kittle explained they saw no reason to increase because the reduced 3.5653 amount still gives the township “wiggle room” and still serves the fire department’s capital plan such as new equipment and staffing levels without degradation of services.
The board could make the renewal a single question or two questions. Joppich explained they asked two questions in 2012 because the increase they were requesting was more than 0.5 mills
“If you’re going to increase a millage by more than a half a mill when it comes up for renewal you have to do it in the form of two questions to the voters, according to Michigan State statutes,” he said.
Clerk Barbara Pallotta favored the single ballot proposal because she was impressed by Independence Township Fire Chief’s Mitch Petterson’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which includes reducing the department’s emergency vehicles from 22 to 15.
“I’m very impressed by the way it’s going and I want to personally thank him (Petterson) for making that huge decision,” she said. “Because I know it was tough doing that, but I think it is the right way to go for our township. I would like to congratulate him on that plan.”
Treasurer Paul Brown said he was also opposed to combining the two millages until he heard the chief’s CIP. Brown liked how the entire department was behind the plan and “bought in.”
Trustee Ron Ritchie said both the township and fire department have a “pretty good track record doing what they say they’re going to do.”
Trustee Andrea Schroeder said she showed the two proposals to a couple people after she received her board packet to get an opinion.
“The feed back I got from a couple different people was that what was most important to them was that it clearly said that it is a renewal and renewing the tax at a reduced amount,” she said. “Having them combined I think is far less confusing than having the two (questions).”

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