The Leighton Township Board Thursday night held a public hearing and then adopted a budget of about $1.628 million for the fiscal year 2017-18.
Revenues are expected to exceed expenditures by about $520, so there likely will not be a need to dip into the fund balance, or rainy day fund.
The Township Board included in its deliberations proposed road paving and chip seal projects for the next year and has budgeted $150,000 for its contribution. Among the paving projects paving of 144th Avenue west of Second Street, Second Street between 142nd and 144th Avenues and 108th Avenue from Second to 6th Street. There may be a chip seal job done on Sisth Street from 145th to 146th Avenue.
Supervisor Steve Deer reported the cost for one mile of paving is about $100,000 while chip seal costs $25,000 for the same length.
“With a chip seal we can buy (the road) more time,” said Treasurer Char Troost, besides saving some money.
Trustee John Hooker cautioned, however, “I am concerned the work on 6th Street might just hide and not fix th
e problem. I don’t want to throw our money at it if it’s not going to do much for us.”
In other business at Thursday night’s meeting, the board:
• Approved the hiring of Mike Jahnke as a new firefighter. Jahnke has been serving with Thornapple Township Emergency Services, but plans to move into Leighton Township with his family.
• Agreed to have Fire Chief Tony Banas seek bids for a paving project for 5,500 square feet atthe Fire Station No. 2 parking lot off Kalamazoo Avenue.
• Decided to award the lawn mowing contracts again to Heyboer for the cemeteries and to Green Lake Landscaping for the township hall, library, fire station and Green Lake park. Noting the township has had good service with Green lake Landscaping, Clerk Mary Lou Nieuwenhuis said, “I asked the library and they’ve had Green Lake for a long time and they’re very pleased with what they do.”
