To the editor:
After reading the local news for the last few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that the leadership of Brandon Township and Ortonville are clueless and incompetent, and it’s time the taxpayers of Brandon Township say that’s enough. I wouldn’t care if Brandon’s ineptness didn’t affect me as a resident of Groveland Township, but it does with school taxes. Now you want to hit me up with another $500 per year with a library tax for a library that most of us in Groveland Township, much less Brandon Township, does not even use. My taxes are already too high, along with my neighbors?, who by the way, some of them, haven’t been able to pay their 2007 summer taxes as of yet. I also have at least one home in my subdivision that was foreclosed.
With the internet, most people don’t even need to go to the library, they just go online. In these economic times in Michigan, state and local government should be finding ways to cut taxes, and if necessary, services. For example, why doesn’t Brandon Township cut the number of master librarians from five to two? How much money would that save? What about charging a user fee, for the ‘Sequels? adult and student programming that the library offers? I certainly hope that the library isn’t going to replace the expensive copper downspouts that were stolen, with more expensive copper downspouts. That leads to another question, since it’s not your money, why was it OK to spend all that money on copper downspouts, siding and gutters and not less expensive materials? I have another question to Board President Margaret Lee and Trustee Matt Ault: You say that ‘finances aren’t the motivation? but that you just want to expand the services offered. What do you think we are, stupid??? It’s always about the money, and you’re doing a lousy job of managing it. By the way, we didn’t ask for expanded services, you’re just trying to expand your control over another township.
I don’t know if the folks in Brandon realize this or not, but the Brandon Library operating budget alone is larger than Groveland Township’s entire operating budget. So if you think you’re paying too much in taxes, here is one area that you might want to look at.
One last point, you can’t even keep the kids (or their parents) under control in the library after school: How many times has the sheriff had to be called in over the last couple of years due to vandalism and kids disturbing the peace. If the good folks in Groveland want to use the library in Brandon, let them pay a user fee. We shouldn’t have this library tax shoved down our throats. This is taxation without representation, especially since Groveland only makes up for 20 percent of the voting block between these two townships.
Now on to Brandon’s new elementary school. Why are we building this anyway? School enrollment is down and forecasted to continue to drop, housing prices are dropping, foreclosure rates are at an all time high, and more homes are for sale than any other time in recent history. More people are leaving the state and Brandon is building a new school. Not very bright for a bunch of educators. It was also telling what Superintendent Tom Miller stated recently when he announced a $151,550 increase to move the school because of a wetlands issue.
‘It’s no big deal, we don’t want to affect the wetlands.? If he and his planners were doing their job, we would not be spending/wasting this kind of money. But I’m glad he thinks $151,500 is no big deal, it’s only the taxpayers? money. I don’t think he would think it was no ‘big deal? if it was his money.
Harry Branca, Jr.
Groveland Twp.