By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
For the second year in a row Orion Township trustees approved a balanced budget that does not require any supplementation from the general fund.
Trustees adopted the 2016 budget Monday night at the board meeting which defined the total revenues and expenditures for 2016, and set the millage levy and appropriations for the fiscal year. ?
All in all, residents will see a slightly lower millage rate on all real and personal property. The approved levy for 2016 is 8.3985 mills or 0.0324 mills lower than the rate for 2015.
A homeowner with a property worth $100,000, at a taxable value of $50,000, will save approximately $1.70 in local collections, and $7 on their total tax bill for 2016, according to township treasurer Mark Thurber.
Of the 8.3985 mills, 6.736 mills are dedicated for township purposes, 1.4135 mills are levied for the Orion Township Library, and 0.2490 mills are approved for the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA).
Estimated township general fund revenues for 2016 come in at $6,815,777, utilizing a 0.9286 millage for the general fund. Total estimated expenditures are the same, at $6,815,777.
Come January 1, the township expects to have $6,252,748 in the general fund, and $47,736,067 in the water and sewer fund.
The proposed water and sewer fund budget comes in at a slight deficit, with total revenues, $9,344,285, exceeded by total costs, $11,728,807, by $2,384,522.
Supervisor Chris Barnett said 2016 is not a huge year for capital projects.
‘If you take one project out of the mix, we are proposing less capital improvement than we have in many years,? he said.
The ballpark lighting project at Friendship Park is the largest capital improvement, costing about $300,000 with a $100,000 grant.
The other big purchase coming out of the fire fund is the aerial truck, to be delivered the first quarter of 2016 at a cost of about $868,000. ?
‘I’m very pleased with the work this board did. We are required to pass a balanced budget. This will be the second year we are not spending money out of our fund balance, our savings account, which we had to do for a number of years when the economy hit us hard,? Barnett said.