To say attendance was light at the July 25 informational meeting regarding Oxford Township’s police and parks operating millage proposals would be an understatement.

A total of seven people showed up and of those, three were members of the local media, one was a parks department employee and one was the parks director’s wife.

Despite this, Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson, commander of the Oxford substation, and Ron Davis, director of the parks and recreation department, went over what’s being requested on the Aug. 6 ballot and why they believe it’s needed.

They repeatedly stressed the need for voters to educate themselves on the issues and their willingness to personally answer questions from the public.

“If you don’t know what you’re voting on when you go to the polls, you’re going to do your community an (injustice),” Davis said.

“If you don’t understand something, give us a call,” said Patterson, who noted ballot language, due to legal requirements, can be “very confusing” at times.

“We definitely want people to understand what they’re voting on,” the lieutenant noted.

Davis agreed.

“If you have questions, certainly give us a call,” he said. “We work for you, every day, and we’d be more than happy to meet with you or get you the information you need so you’re prepared when you go to the polls.”

Davis prefers it if people come directly to him to ask questions rather than relying on social media where information can be inaccurate. “Don’t believe everything you read on Facebook,” he said.

The Oxford substation phone number is (248) 969-3077 and the number for the parks and recreation office is (248) 628-1720.

On the special election ballot is a 10-year, 1-mill operating tax proposal for the parks and rec. department along with a five-year, 3.9152-mill request to continue funding police services provided by the sheriff’s office via contract.

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

Both proposals are renewals combined with small increases.

The parks and rec. tax rate is currently 0.8234 mills, while the police tax is 3.7939 mills.

Both operating millages are set to expire with the December 2019 collection, meaning there will be dedicated funding for parks and police services in 2020, but nothing beyond that unless voters authorize millages for them.

If voters approve the millage requests, the owner of a home or commercial building with a taxable value of $100,000, for example, would pay $100 per year for parks and rec. services and $392 per year for police services.

In the above scenario, the parks tax increase amounts to $17.66 more per year, while the police tax increase equals $12.13 more per year.

“We’re not asking for any more than what we need to run the department effectively,” Davis said.

As for the police millage, this increase would put it back to the rate that voters originally approved in November 2014. Rollbacks mandated by the Headlee Amendment reduced the rate over the years.

Because village taxpayers fund and maintain their own separate police department, they do not pay the township police millage, so the proposal does not appear on ballots distributed to village voters. Only residents living outside of the village, which is known as the unincorporated part of the township, will vote on this millage request and pay the tax if it passes.

However, because village residents are also township residents, they do receive services from the parks and rec. department and pay the tax to support them. Therefore, the parks tax will be voted on by both township and village residents and both groups will pay it if it’s approved.

Davis and Patterson stressed these requests are for operating millages, which means the money they generate is used to provide the services residents receive on a daily basis.

In the parks department’s case, Davis said the operating millage pays for “everything,” including staffing costs, program costs, fertilizer, paint, electricity to run the irrigation system and splash pad at Seymour Lake Park and liability insurance.

“Our millage is used specifically to run the department,” he said.

Although the department’s operating tax rate has not increased since Davis took over as director in 1995, the size and scope of its facilities and offerings has grown significantly.

Twenty-four years ago, the department had two parks, Stony and Seymour Lake, offered a small number of enrichment programs and employed two staff members on a full-time basis, Davis and a maintenance superintendent.

Today, the department is responsible for more than 500 acres of land spread across four parks (the other two being Oakwood Lake and Powell Lake) and has seven full-time employees, including Davis. In terms of programs, the department offers opportunities in the areas of gymnastics; youth, adult and family enrichment; aquatics; youth and adult athletics; health and wellness; travel; and activities for seniors (age 55 and older).

A number of amenities have been added to Seymour Lake Park – the most heavily used of the four parks – including the Kids Kingdom playground, KLR Splashpad, disc golf course and most recently, a multipurpose community room and senior center.

“There’s all kinds of stuff that you can do at your leisure for that $100 (annual tax),” Davis said.

The department also organizes and conducts a variety of special events annually, including the Jack-O-Lantern Jamboree, Turkey Trot, Daddy Daughter Dance, Mother Son Dance, Seymour Celebration, Easter Bunny Bonanza and Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt.

Davis noted the $2 million bond proposal that voters passed in November 2016 to fund capital improvements in all four township parks is completely separate and distinct from the operating millage, which keeps the department functioning.

He explained the bond was necessary as there were a number of improvements that needed to be made, but couldn’t be done because the department lacked the funds.

“At the end of the fiscal year, we don’t have a lot of money left (over) to put into fund equity to do capital projects,” Davis said.

He noted the department “collects the lowest” amount of millage in the township with the exception of the North Oakland Transportation Authority and “what you give us (in taxes), we stretch to the (limit).”

“I’m proud of our staff and our commission for doing that,” he added.

In addition to providing opportunities to recreate, socialize and exercise, Davis said the parks department helps strengthen and grow the community by attracting and retaining young families and businesses.

“You show me a community that’s got strong parks and I’ll show you a community that’s got a lot of value to it,” he said.

“You can go to a park if you’re 1 or if you’re 101. It offers something for everybody,” Davis added. “Parks play a valuable role in any successful community. It’s proven. You can look anywhere.”

He believes parks also help boost property values.

“If you’re close to a park, your house is going to be worth more,” Davis said.

As for the police millage, it’s what pays for the township’s contract with the sheriff’s office. The county agency has been providing law enforcement services to Oxford since 2000.

Without an operating millage in place, the township has no dedicated funding mechanism to support the sheriff’s contract. Without a contract, the sheriff’s office will not specifically assign officers to cover Oxford nor will it maintain a substation in the community.

“Nothing’s free,” said Patterson, who stressed that if people want police and parks, they have to pay for it.

“It’s the way it is,” the lieutenant said.

If approved, not only will the police millage keep the existing 17 officers currently manning the substation, the additional funding could allow the township to add up to three officers over the next five years.

More officers are needed, according to Patterson, because the township’s population continues to grow, yet the number of officers who protect it is the same as it was in 2005. More officers are needed to keep up with the increased demand for service and maintain respectable response times when calls come in, he explained.

The substation is currently staffed with 13 road patrol deputies, a school liaison officer, a detective, a sergeant and a lieutenant.

When it comes to policing, Patterson wants the substation to have enough manpower to be “proactive,” which means trying to prevent crimes by frequently patrolling streets, neighborhoods and commercial areas and staying in close touch with residents and business owners.

“We want to keep doing that,” he said.

Oxford’s substation had the second highest clearance rate of the sheriff’s 12 substations last year. Of the 259 crimes reported, 63.71 percent (or 165) were cleared or closed, meaning they either resulted in an arrest (98) or were cleared by exceptional means (67). Exceptional means are reasons beyond law enforcement’s control that prevented an offender from being arrested and charged.