Dorr Township voters Aug. 2 will decide the fates of two very important millage requests, a half mill for purchase of fire department equipment and three mills for improving and paving local roads.

Both proposals have been rejected in the past, but township officials insist they are too important to just let them die.

In wrote an editorial about the fire millage two months ago and it will be reprinted further down in this piece. So in case you missed it, you get another chance to consider my blatent attempts to sway your opinions. But first, the roads:

There are three huge reasons for supporting the three mills for Dorr Township roads.

One is that neither the county nor the state will pay for any improvements of roads within these boundaries except 142nd Avenue, 18th Street and 146th Avenue. Townships residents are on the hook, by rule, for the condition of their own roads otherwise.

The second is that Dorr Township roads have been regarded by people in the know as unacceptable, or even worse, unsafe.

The third is the annual necessary evil known as dust control — sorely sought by residents on dusty gravel roads, but opposed by farmers with vehicles subject to rust caused by the dust control solution applied.

So if it is true Dorr Township roads can only be paid for by local residents and if it’s true too many are unacceptable or unsafe and if the annual unpleasantness over dust control continues, then the only solution to the problems is to do what neighboring Salem Township has done — pass an annual long-range millage for paving.

The volunteer citizens’ committee has put a lot of work into this project and members already have come up with a proactive proposal first to pave the detour route around the county’s widening of 18th Street.

The fire equipment millage will be for a half mill for five years with a four-year renewal.

Dorr Township Fire Chief Gary Fordham has explained that the local fire department periodically must replace its equipment when it wears out or when vehicles are no longer usable. After the most recent millage request failed, equipment needs have been paid for as a result by dipping into the general fund. The special millage request is earmarked specifically to fire equipment.

The millage, if approved, would cover the years 2016 through 2020, and revenue from the first year has been estimated at $115,500.

In my four years since starting this on-line community news service, this may be the most perplexing and difficult to understand development I’ve covered. It could be the best example of “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” It makes absolutely no sense to me to dry up funding for a department dedicated to saving life and limb.

As individuals, we cannot afford to hire a firefighter to protect our houses. So we must pool our money together through taxes to pay for fire protection, as well as police protection. Taxes often are the costs of having a civilized society and the process by which we can receive services we can’t afford on our own.

The people of Dorr Township, during those awful and tumultuous days in 2012, twice rejected a millage renewal for fire equipment replacement. They did it again since, rejecting a half mill that would be spent for nothing other than fire equipment. Its defeat only means the department has to ask the Township Board to dip into the fund balance to make up the difference.

Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul. Or cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I urge the citizens of Dorr Township to come to their senses and support the half-mill request by the fire department and the three-mill request for roads on Aug. 2.