Parks director, substation commander available in Seymour Lake Park community room from 7-9 p.m.

Oxford Township’s two Ps – parks and police – will be the subject of a special informational event on Thursday, July 25.

From 7 to 9 p.m. inside the community room at Seymour Lake Park, Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson, commander of the Oxford substation, and Ron Davis, director of the parks and recreation department, will be available to meet with the public and provide whatever information voters may need to help make an informed decision regarding the two millage proposals on the Aug. 6 ballot.

“We’re going to be on hand. If you want to stop in and see us, we’ll be there to explain everything,” Davis said.

Patterson sees this as an opportunity to give people his “undivided attention” and help “clarify”the facts surrounding the police millage, so people can hopefully walk away with a better understanding of what they’re voting on and exactly how it impacts them.

There’s a 10-year, 1-mill operating tax proposal for the parks department on the ballot along with a five-year, 3.9152-mill request to continue funding police services provided by the sheriff’s office. Both are renewals combined with small increases.

One mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

If approved, the owner of a home or commercial building with a taxable value of $100,000, for example, would pay $100 annually for the parks tax and $392 per year for the police tax. In this scenario, the parks tax increase amounts to $17.66 more per year, while the police tax increase is $12.13 more annually.

Patterson and Davis will provide an overview of their respective millage proposals – the ballot language, the figures involved, what it means to taxpayers, why the millages are needed, etc. – then answer questions from those in attendance.

When it comes to “questions and concerns” from the general public, Davis said “not everybody will pick up a phone and call” them, so they decided to hold “an open forum.”

This way, he explained, voters can “come talk to us face-to-face and get the answers right from the horse’s mouth instead of going on social media” and finding answers that “aren’t always correct.”

Patterson agreed.

“Everybody handles things differently,” he said. “Some people like to talk to you on the phone. Some people like to just get the information in hand and do their own thing. Some people like to sit down and talk to you.”

Whether someone is leaning toward voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or is completely on the fence about the issue, Davis hopes if people have questions, they will avail themselves of this opportunity to be better informed.

“I don’t care if you vote ‘no,’ but at least know what you’re voting on and what the outcome will be,” Davis said.

“I’ve got nothing to hide. Come on out and I’d be more than happy to talk,” he added.

Patterson said he’s ready and willing to talk to anyone at the forum, but he’s really hoping the ballot language was “clear enough” that a lot of people won’t feel the need to attend because they understand what’s being asked of them.

The sheriff’s office has been serving the township since February 2000 and during that time, Patterson said residents have always been “very supportive” when it comes to funding local law enforcement services.

After building that “relationship” for nearly 20 years, the lieutenant suspects that many people, by now, understand the value of what they’ve been receiving and what’s at stake if there’s no money going forward to continue contracting with the sheriff’s office.

“You hope people are educated about how operating millages (work),” Patterson said. “If you want to have services, whether it’s police or parks, you have to pay for them.”

Here’s what they’re asking for

Parks and Recreation

The parks and recreation department is seeking approval of a 10-year, 1-mill request to fund its operations.

The ballot language labels the proposal as “new additional millage,” but it’s actually a renewal combined with a small increase.

The parks and rec. tax rate is currently 0.8234 mills, so this proposal represents a 0.1766-mill increase, which in monetary terms equals close to 18 cents for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

If the parks and rec. millage is not approved, there will be no dedicated funding to operate the department beginning in 2021.

The current millage is set to expire with the December 2019 tax collection, which means the department has funding in place for 2020, but nothing beyond that.

No operating millage means no money to maintain the parks, offer recreation programs and hold special events.

The operating millage is not the same as the $2 million bond proposal voters approved in November 2016.

Bond money pays for capital improvements in all four township parks.

Operating millage pays for maintenance, supplies, electricity, employee wages and everything else needed to run the department and serve the public on a daily basis.

While it’s true that a portion of the proposed operating millage is needed to help run and maintain the new senior center that was built in Seymour Lake Park, Davis said it’s not true that it’s the sole reason for the tax request.

“We still have to have the funds to operate the park system and the programs,” he said.

Construction of the senior center was paid for using a combination of $300,000 from the township’s general fund reserves and $100,000 from the parks and recreation department’s reserves.

Police protection

Township voters living outside of the village are being asked to approve a five-year, 3.9152-mill property tax to continue funding police protection provided by the sheriff’s office.

The proposal seeks to restore the millage rate back to what voters approved in the November 2014 election.

Over the years, the Headlee Amendment reduced the tax to its current 3.7939 mills. The existing operating tax expires with the December 2019 collection, so there is dedicated funding for police services in 2020, but nothing beyond that.

Given this, the request equals a 0.1213-mill increase, which in monetary terms equals a little over 12 cents for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

Raising the tax back to its original, voter-approved rate would allow the substation to maintain current staffing and potentially add officers over the life of the millage.

The sheriff’s substation is currently staffed by the same number of officers it had in 2005, which is 17. There are 13 road patrol deputies, a detective, a school liaison (or resource) officer, a sergeant and a lieutenant in command.

Patterson has said the problem with that is the township’s population has grown since then, so more officers are needed to keep up with the increased demand for service and maintain “respectable” response times when calls come in.

To help deal with this, if the millage is approved, the goal is to add three officers. However, the number will ultimately depend on the amount of revenue the millage generates and the sheriff’s future contract costs.

Additional officers on staff would also allow the substation to engage in more proactive policing, according to Patterson, which consists of patrolling streets, neighborhoods and commercial areas more often and staying in close contact with residents and business owners, all in an effort to prevent crimes from occurring.