Good news for Oxford Township taxpayers ? they won’t see an increase in their municipality’s operating millage rate when they receive their winter tax bills in December.
As it has since the 1990s, the board once again kept the township’s operating tax at 0.95 mill as officials last week approved their 2015 budgets and set the millage rates to support them.
One mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
Township officials approved a $2.137 million general fund budget for the new fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1.
Officials set the fire/EMS and the Advanced Life Support (ALS) taxes at 1.5 mills and 1 mill, respectively.
The fire/EMS budget was approved at $1.25 million, while the ALS budget was approved at $1.6 million.
The police budget, which funds the township’s contract with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, was approved at $2.27 million. Right now, that pays for one sergeant, two patrol investigators and 12 deputies.
Law enforcement services will be funded by tax levy of 2.9152 mills.
That represents a decrease because the two-year, 1-mill levy approved by voters in 2012 expired with last December’s tax collection.
Officials approved levying a 0.8538-mill tax to support the park and recreation department’s $1.08 million budget and a combined 1.3982-mill levy to finance the Oxford Public Library’s $1.036 million budget.
It should be noted the library’s tax rate could be higher on the December bill should voters decide to approve a 10-year, 0.4518 mill increase in the Nov. 4 general election.
The tax rate to continue paying off the combined fire/library debt was set at 1.56 mills, which is less than the 1.65 mills residents paid last year.
Because the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA) will, for the first time, begin receiving its own dedicated millage in December, township officials set the tax rate at the voter-approved amount of 0.25 mill, which will help support a total budget of $1.08 million.
In the August primary, voters in Oxford and Orion townships approved a five-year, 0.25-mill tax to support NOTA
The tax is expected to contribute a total of $514,366, between the two townships, to NOTA’s 2015 budget.
Addison voters failed the millage request, but it will appear again there on the November ballot.