Oxford Township officials last week approved the municipality’s 2010 budgets and the property tax rates that will support them.
All of the millage rates, with the exception of the ones to help pay off the fire and library bond debts, remained the same as the 2009 levies.
Once again, the township will be levying 0.95 mills to help support its general fund budget, which was approved at $1.58 million. The township’s been levying a 0.95-mill rate for operations since the mid-1990s.
A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
None of the township’s full-time elected officials (supervisor, clerk and treasurer) or their deputies received a pay increase. The supervisor’s pay remained at $60,746 while the clerk and treasurer stayed at $50,578. All three deputies will continue to earn $45,537 per year.
A tax rate of 2.9152 mills was approved to support the township’s police services contract with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department. Next year’s police budget was set at $2.149 million.
A budget of $2.29 million for the fire department and Advanced Life Support services was approved as was the total tax rate of 2.5 mills to support it.
The Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department will be operating with a $1.261 million budget next year. A tax rate of 0.8538 mills will be levied to keep the department going.
Taxpayers will face a levy of 1.3982 mills to keep the Oxford Public Library operating with its $1.226 million budget.
To help pay off the existing fire and library bond debts, the township board approved millage rates of 0.955 and 0.496, respectively. Both of these millages increased slightly due to the decline in the township’s overall taxable value and the fact the bond payments went up. Last year, the debt millage rates were 0.86 for fire and 0.42 for the library. ? Editor C.J. Carnacchio