Coverage from yesterday's township open house

There was another Genoa Township meeting over the road millage. It was the same stuff covered at the first two meetings I was at. WHMI and the Argus were there.


From WHMI

10/30/13 - A final informational meeting to explain an upcoming road millage ballot issue was held at the Genoa Township Hall last night. The township is offering a 15-year, 1.5 mill property tax on Tuesday's ballot to help make repairs and improvements to roads that the county and state are unable to fix due to budget constraints. Township officials have released a list of proposed projects to be accomplished through the millage, and of those the paving of Cunningham Lake Road in particular has elicited strong responses from residents. A group from the area has formed a committee to oppose the millage, saying the planned paving will destroy the natural setting of Cunningham Lake Road, encourage increased traffic at faster speeds, and make it dangerous for recreational activities like biking and jogging. During the meeting township officials and engineers fielded questions about that project and others being proposed as part of the millage. Supervisor Gary McCririe tells WHMI that removing any particular project from the proposal is highly unlikely, so voters will have to approach the ballot issue on an all-or-nothing basis. He says residents should vote their conscience, so if they are opposed to the project list they should simply vote against the millage. The township could offer a more limited road millage proposal if the current one is rejected on Tuesday, but McCririe says the township board will have to carefully consider how to move forward if that happens. (TD) 

The part in bold is key and is the same thing the township manager has said on multiple occasions. This is an all or nothing millage. If you don't want one particular road widened and paved, you have to vote against the whole thing to prevent it unless you want to go to longer shots of Plans B, C, D, and E (which we have if necessary). 

The Argus has an article and another letter. Here's the article:

A proposed tax levy intended to raise $23 million for nine county road projects across Genoa Township saw little support from a group of about 20 residents who attended an open-house forum Tuesday.
.........

Some of those who spoke at the open house were concerned with plans to pave and widen certain roads, especially portions of Cunningham Lake and Crooked Lake roads.
“They’re going to cut all of our trees down. We’ve lived there 35 years; we like the way it looks now,” said Ann Wholihan, who lives on Cunningham Lake Road and doesn’t want her home to lose its rural appeal.
“Everybody I’ve talked to doesn’t want it,” she added.
Wholihan and her husband, Paul, have been active members of a group called Protect Genoa Township Neighborhoods, which opposes the millage. They wore T-shirts to Tuesday’s open house that read “Stop the Genoa Township road millage; vote no Nov. 5; no new taxes.”
Residents also were concerned that paving additional roads would increase traffic and the dangers of speeding in the rural areas.
“The kids go down here so fast now,” said Sherry Korbie, another longtime Cunningham Lake Road resident. “You give them a paved road ...”

Township officials argue the millage is necessary because the Legislature has not come up with a way to draw more revenue to fix roads. Roadwork is generally paid for through statewide gasoline taxes and vehicle-registration fees.
“Our township’s general fund tax dollars are about $1 million a year,” Archinal said. “When you look at Crooked Lake Road, that project alone is like $2.8 million. There’s just no way the general fund can support a project like that without some additional revenue sources.”

Then why widen and pave Crooked Lake Road? Why is that needed? I know for a fact that the residents of Cunningham Lake and Conrad don't want their roads widened and paved (The widening is what makes it real bad), and I'm fairly certain about Bauer as well.  I'm less familiar with Herbst and Beck. On that same note, a lot of people in other neighborhoods don't see the reason to widen and pave those roads, and don't want to pay more taxes for a waste of money. For those who don't want their own roads widened and paved, the taxes are an expensive insult to neighborhood and property rights' injuries.

Savings eyed

Archinal pointed out that better roads could save taxpayers money in other areas.
“One of the things that’s kind of a hidden savings is the emergency vehicle response times, the wear and tear on fire trucks, police cars, school buses,” he said. “That’s in addition to the private costs that we all incur with driving on dirt roads — ball-joint repairs, even car washes.”
The length of the tax levy — 15 years — was questioned by a couple of residents worried that they would by paying a long time for roads that might only have a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years.
“They’ll have to rebuild it by the time they get it paid for almost,” said Terry Croft, who lives on Hacker Road and attended the open house with his wife, Rita.
McCririe said many roads can last much longer than that if properly constructed.
“It should last well over 20 years with proper maintenance,” McCririe said, pointing out that roadways such as Dorr and Chilson roads are in good condition after many years of use. “There’s not a lot of maintenance on paved roads; it costs more to maintain gravel roads.”

Mike, in my nearly 20 years of driving on dirt roads, I've never had to replace my ball joints from that (paved pothole is another story). I don't fly down them at 90 MPH either. That's a good way to hit a deer - or in the case of Cunningham Lake, a deer, turkey, crane, dog, cat, hunter, jogger, walker, someone's grandkid, or another pedestrian.  As far as 20 years life on a paved project, I'll believe it when I see it.

Lastly there's another letter from a resident on this.

The Genoa Township road millage proposal touts the failing and deteriorating condition of 97 percent of township roads. However, nearly 75 percent ($16.5 million) of the proposed funds are targeted to reconstruct and pave gravel roads with very little of the tax revenue targeted to repair existing paved roads, and reduce the ongoing deterioration.
Most of the plan will not benefit the majority of township residents. With the exception of the Crooked Lake Road upgrade, Hughes Road repair and roundabout construction at the Challis Road/Bauer Road intersection, these are questionable projects. Hughes Road ($2.5 million) could be repaired using the same fix just completed on Coon Lake Road for a quarter of the cost, saving nearly $2 million. Reconstructing and paving Beck Road at $3 million is dumbfounding, and likely to grow to nearly $4 million for required work, and who will benefit? Herbst Road at $4 million tears up good pavement to make a heavy-load capable shortcut for what purpose? Similar commentary applies to other high-cost, low-benefit projects, while the failing Challis Road east of Bauer Road is not in the plan. This repair must be completed to make the roundabout functional. Brighton Road, one of the most heavily used roads in the township, is in poor condition and is not in the plan.
The millage language does not include any listing of road projects, thereby giving unlimited authority to the board to redirect the tax revenue for roadwork as it desires. This lack of accountability is a concern. By using an expensive bond, the tax revenue will all be spent within three years on low-value gravel road projects, while the residents will be paying this high tax rate for the next 15 years. Why not eliminate the costly bond and use a phased strategy to fund repairs over the life of the millage as road repair needs surface over time?
A recent township newsletter states that $250,000 per year will be pulled from the general fund to support the millage proposal. This is coming from the $500,000 included in the township budget for annual roadwork, cutting in half the repair and maintenance work that can be done in years 12-15. Interestingly, the millage language states the millage fund itself will be paying the service debt on bonds; something doesn’t make sense.
The millage request should be defeated until a lower cost and more effective plan can be put together; one that actually repairs failing roads, reduces deterioration and benefits large numbers of township residents.
Let your voice be heard by voting NO on this costly and poorly thought-out road millage proposal.
Norman Ball
Genoa Township