Dear Editor,
A letter appearing’in last week’s Review deserves attention about the Township Board ‘reducing? the Sheriff’s protection. The writer Dave forgot that the separate police’millage our residents approve, like most, have had a smaller tax base due to reduced home values and people moving out. It’s not the Township Boards? fault and their spending does not directly impact that millage. Under that millage, if its revenue does not cover current police’costs, expenses have to be cut somewhere. Taxpayers can decide’whether they wish to increase the police millage.?
Dave’also’blames the board for proceeding to follow the former supervisor’s direction to build a civic center and an amphitheater, leaving them’underfunded, coupled with cost overruns!? Plante Moran auditors did warn these officials in 2008 of a pending downslide in future state revenue. It was decided then’to build these new items proceeding to use the’existing surplus, in hopes that the state would continue adequate funding, since the surplus would be gone! And now was the time with contractor costs low to build. You decide!
Enter the expansion of Eagle Valley’last April for 40 more years and 25 feet higher as the answer to these ongoing expenses. The township board now finds itself with possible reversal of their flawed decision which was promulgated with incomplete data by former supervisor Gibb. Many residents do not want Orion to be known and seen as the county dump. And others have remembered former township boards citing no more expansion as they bought here then.’Eight years remain under the previous approval for’Eagle Valley’to fill, providing more’host fees for the township’s budget.
Dave’should thank our state rep Brad Jacobsen and Senator Jim Marleau for the fine efforts they have made to reduce spending and encourage business towards creating jobs. This would lead to home values ascending with better millage income!
Burke Cueny