By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — During its meeting on Aug. 13, the Independence Township Board of Trustees heard a presentation from Trustees Sam Moraco, Jim Tedder and Ron Ritchie regarding excess funds from the townships Road Millage Fund.
Earlier this year, the board discussed the remaining money which in March, was around $2.477 million. According to township documents, construction on the planned projects listed for the millage were completed in 2022. As the money has remained with the township, the surplus has continued to garner additional interest and residents have continued to ask what the board’s plan for the money is.
Moraco began the presentation by explaining why there was excess funds in the first place, citing a delayed start time on construction due to asphalt prices.
“The construction started a year later due to the increased asphalt prices. So, (we) went out for bid, got rebid. The bids came down from the time that we had bid it and (we) based the millage on that amount,” Moraco said. “Additional construction in the township and investment into the township also added dollars into the tax funds after it was established. And along with the delayed start, that even put more additional tax money into the millage than anticipated. And there were also some smaller sections of asphalt along some of the roadways that didn’t need repair at the time.”
While some have voiced their desire to have the money returned to residents, the board has been vocal about its aversion to doing so.
“The original money that the taxpayers paid into the millage – returning the funds was one option. We don’t think it’s a very viable option. It seemed to be cost prohibitive. A lot of the money would go back to commercial businesses and people that paid into it all those years that moved away would need to be located,” said Moraco. “We all agreed that the money would be better spent on the roads that (it was) intended for, since it’s a significant amount of money, and that it be used to pre-identify roads and potential others with similar characteristics as were used to establish the original list.”
Moraco went on to explain that there are also potential future projects the township may need to address if Oakland County does not. He also added that the township employees and DPW could identify roads that need spot repairs or sections of roads that were not slated to be replaced by the county but are in need of repairs.
“So to basically sum it up; we think that the money that you pay for the road should go into the roads,” Moraco said.
Trustees noted that the interest made on the original millage money is not considered the taxpayers money and that could be used to incentivize neighborhood road improvement programs and SADs (Special Assessment Districts).
“We got a real problem with the roads. The neighbors can’t get 51% of the people to do the SAD. The math’s not working. It’s either not advertised enough, we’re not contributing enough, or the people aren’t willing to contribute enough, and the roads aren’t going to get fixed on their own,” said Moraco. “So, part of that is that we think that we should take that interest money and put it into a kitty that would help us raise our contributions to neighborhoods who want to participate in SADs, and hopefully get to a point where that balance would make it where they would get the 51% of votes and be able to eventually do the project still go to roads and just go, not the specific roads, right, not using millage money, but the interest on the money.”
Moraco added that they did not wish to see the unused money sent to the general fund but rather allow it to accumulate so the township can contribute higher percentages and hopefully increase resident participation in SADs.
“We think the township needs to take an active role in promoting options, providing support, helping groups get the information out on the programs and the assistance that we can provide,” said Moraco.
The committee also expressed that they would like to have township supervisors in Oakland County work with the county regarding the Mass Transit Millage to try and have some of that money given back to communities who participated.
The township board is expected to discuss this topic further at its next meeting on Aug. 27.