Brandon Twp.- Township taxpayers should have some decreases in their bills under proposed 2015 millage rates.
Fire millages are scheduled to remain the same at 3.8000 for operating, and .5905 for equipment and housing, but due to the Headlee rollback, the township operating millage should fall from the 1 mill levied in 2014 to .9966 in 2015 and the proposed 2015 library debt millage is .6300, down from .6700 last year. The police millage should also decrease, although the exact amount has yet to be officially determined.
Supervisor Kathy Thurman proposed decreasing the 2015 police millage levy to 3.7500 mills from the 2014 levy of 4.25. However, during a special workshop Aug. 31, she appeared alone in wanting the millage decreased by a half mill. With the exception of Trustee Bill DeWitt, who was absent from the meeting, the rest of the board supported a decrease in the police levy of a quarter mill, setting it at 4 mills for 2015.
‘I sent the proposed budget to boardmembers and nobody responded that it should be any different, so I was thinking they were all in agreement and apparently, no,? said Thurman. ‘At the special meeting, there was interest in moving the millage rate to 4 mills, to increase the carry forward faster for the police millage.?
The police fund balance as of Dec. 31, 2014 was $20,998. In August 2014, voters passed a 4.25 police millage, keeping 10.5 OCSO deputies contracted to patrol the township for the next five years, and also keeping the OCSO substation in downtown Ortonville.
The passed millage was a quarter mill more than what voters approved in 1992. Due to Headlee rollbacks, by December 2013, when the most recent police millage had expired, only 3.5286 mills was being levied. That levy did not generate enough revenue to cover the township’s OCSO contract, which had an annual cost of $1,378,984, and is good through 2015. The contract does not cover the cost of overtime for deputies. Due to the shortage, cable franchise fees of about $70,000 annually were used to supplement the police fund. Thurman calculated the police carry forward would be $329,772 by the end of 2016 with a policy millage levy of 3.75 mills. With a levy of 4 mills, it would be $451,937. The board’s goal during strategic planning sessions was to get the police fund balance to 25 percent of expenditures. A 4 mill levy will achieve that goal by the end of next year, whereas a 3.75 mill levy will take more than two years to arrive at the desired amount.
‘The board agreed during budgeting last year that we wanted a 25 percent carry forward for the police budget and the auditor agreed,? said Trustee Jayson Rumball. ‘We also said we were going to reduce the millage from the 4.25 approved by the voters, which the 4 mills does. We want to be at the 25 percent fund balance in 2016, and the 4 mills will get us there.?
The township board voted earlier this year to replace a part-time deputy position on the midnight shift with a full-time deputy. The board also agreed to pay the portion of the police liaison officer’s contract as a patrol officer for the township when school is not in session during the summer, as well as during professional development days, vacations, and breaks during the school year.
The township now pays $1,424,179 annually for the OCSO contract, which expires this year.
‘Preliminary discussion with the county is that the cost of the contract is not going to change much,? said Thurman.
A truth-in-taxation hearing was scheduled for the township board’s Sept. 8 meeting, but will be postponed. A date has not yet been set for further discussion of millage rates.