At this point, Oxford Village is ‘not interested? in having the township collect its property taxes.
‘The concept sounds good, but when you look at it, the practicality of it, dollars-wise it’s not in the best interests of the village,? said village Manager Joe Young.
Council last week voted 5-0 to decline Treasurer Joe Ferrari’s offer to have the township begin billing and collecting the village’s property taxes as part of its regular summer tax bill.
For this service, Ferrari suggested as a negotiating point the township could charge $1.50 per parcel ? the same rate currently charged to the Oxford and Lake Orion school districts.
When analyzing the concept, Young determined it currently costs the village approximately 60 cents per parcel to produce and mail bills.
That’s the out-of-pocket or ‘hard cost? for things like paper, envelopes, printing, handling and mailing.
Given there are approximately 1,800 parcels in the village, Young calculated Ferrari’s proposal of $1.50 would cost the municipality an additional $1,108 annually.
It was noted that in former village Clerk Christine Burns? research paper regarding cityhood, she calculated the village’s current cost per bill to be $2.0899.
However, that figure included $1.4973 per bill for labor by the village treasurer and deputy treasurer.
Young determined these staff costs would still be incurred even if the township collected village taxes.
‘We’re paying staff to be there regardless (of) whether there’s tax bills that month or not,? he told council.
It was also determined by Young that the village could lose $1,000 or more in daily interest if the township kept the bank interest accrued during those weeks before it paid the municipality its tax money twice a month.
Council President George Del Vigna noted the village has to carry insurance on people who handle its money, so the municipality would have to pay to insure township employees.
‘That’s another cost,? he said.
Besides cost, the possibility of the village becoming a city factored into council’s decision.
Like townships, cities are required by law to bill and collect not only their own taxes, but school and county taxes as well.
‘If and when we become a city, we’d have to take it back over again,? said Councilman Tom Benner, noting this could create some ‘confusion.?