Just because . . .

“I want to make this very clear: we are not becoming a city. But I would like to begin to explore what that may look like,” said Oxford Village president Joe Frost at an informal strategic planning session Jan. 27 in the community room at the village offices.
Frost recently attended a workshop on transitioning from a village to a city, put on by the Michigan Municipal League, a non-partisan association that provides training and resources for elected officials and local governments across the state.
“Our community is growing,” Frost continued. “It’s bursting at the seams. 40,000 vehicles pass our intersection every day. We’re not the village of 1920.”
Incorporating to a city would give the village the mechanism to completely rewrite the charter, which needs updating, according to Frost. But first, he wants to look into all the pros and cons with a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.
President pro-tem Dave Bailey wanted to know what it costs to be Lake Angelus, which with a population of 290 as of the 2010 census, is the smallest ‘city’ in Michigan. “It must be really painful for Lake Angelus to be a city. So I’d like to find out how painful it is with all those costs.”
On the opposite extreme, the largest village in Michigan is Beverley Hills with a population of 10,267 as of the 2010 census. Oxford Village is right between those extremes with a population of about 3,500.
Councilwoman Kate Logan agreed with where Frost was headed. “I think we owe it to our residents to explore this,” she said.
Based on conversations she’s had with residents, “There’s a lot of confusion and even some animosity around having to pay double the taxes that the people of the township pay. I don’t think there’s a clear understanding of the services that are provided by the township that merit the amount of taxes that we’re paying to them. So I want to see the numbers.”
She echoed Frost’s comments that, “Oxford is growing. I’ve been here 26 years. This is not the small community it used to be. We’re talking about getting a Beaumont . . . we are getting closer and closer to city status.”
Bailey weighed in with the wisdom of his experience. “Every 20 years people take it seriously and it never happens,” he said.
He still remembers the pain experienced during the last cycle “because other parts of the township got kind of paranoid. Some of my best friends were paranoid about it.”
Back then people said that cityhood for the village “would be a disaster” and at the same time, “there’s going to be huge chunks of the township banging on the doors trying to get annexed into the city of Oxford.” Bailey wondered aloud if those could both be true.
Logan recognized there might be push-back. “Some people are not receptive to change. I have a feeling that the Township government is not going to be a fan of this. But we’re not here to serve the township government.”
Logan thought the village might be able to cut taxes by incorporating.
Village Clerk Tere Onica offered a reality check. She explained that cities are required to provide certain services and that only the operating taxes currently paid to the township would be cut. “Don’t kid yourself to think your taxes are going to be less, because all those taxes that you’re paying are not going to go away.”
She gave examples of other villages whose taxes went up dramatically after becoming a city. “I’m not saying that’s going to happen here. It might not. There are certain things in the Village of Oxford that are not in the Village of Goodrich and other villages. So you really have to look at those things side-by-side.”
“Again, I think we need to take a look at the numbers,” Logan reiterated.
Frost said while they’re at it, “let’s look at the cost-benefit of dissolving (into the township) as well. I hate to say that. But if we’re looking at all the opportunities and all the options, what is the best fit for our residents for the 21st century?”
Frost emphasized that they are just in the preliminary stages. “It’s not like this body can say tomorrow, ‘we’re going to become a city.’ There’s a whole process. It still has to go to a public vote on the ballot at a general election. And there’s a lot of steps that lead up to that.
“I was even hesitant to bring it up because I just know how this town operates. Guaranteed there will be crap all over Facebook later tonight about it.”
In an informal poll conducted on the Leader’s Facebook page, there were many strong opinions on the idea of Oxford becoming a city.
Several comments had to do with the semantics of cityhood:
“The city of the village of Oxford…. no thanks, Clarkston already took that stupid title.”
Or, “We are moving to Oxford to get away from the city!”
And, “I love oxford as it is! Do not turn it into a city…we need more peaceful towns instead of all the chaos and tantrums big cities bring.”
Another commenter helpfully pointed out that cityhood has nothing to do with population size.
Most respondents opposed the idea, citing previous cityhood debates and worries about higher taxes. One commenter said the village has enough on its plate with the M-24 project and half-empty strip malls. Several folks remained neutral and wanted more information. But nobody was outright in favor of the idea.
Villagers voted 333 to 244 against becoming a city in August 2008. It was the culmination of a process that began with a committee five years earlier.