Road, fire millage requests to face Dorr Twp. voters in May 5 election

Two local millage proposals will appear on the May 5 special election ballot in Dorr Township, one for roads and one for fire equipment.

The township Monday night agreed to ask for three mills over five years to fix, maintain, pave and construct roads within the township. Also on the ballot will be half-mill proposal for six years to replace fire department equipment and vehicles.

The special election was made possible last month when the Michigan Legislature decided to let voters statewide decide on a proposed one-cent hike in the state sales tax to fund roads.

Carolyn Standel, leader of a citizens’ committee working on behalf of roads in Dorr Township, said Monday night, “Even if the state gets approval (on the sales tax increase), very little will trickle down to our township. And what the township has left in its road fund from prior millages is running out.”

Standel said the citizens’ committee has decided on a five-year program because there are serious needs to repair and upgrade local roads.

The committee already has recommended what should be done with the millage funds if the proposal passes in May. Standel said the most urgent needs are in the northeast and northwest quadrants of the township.

She noted the Allegan County Road Commission plans to reconstruct, widen and pave 18th Street north from 142nd Avenue to 144th Avenue in 2017, which will create a traffic bottleneck and a need for constructing paved detours. So the committee recommends paving 144^th Avenue  at 20 th Street east to half of the northern detour route, covering three-quarters of a mile. Then do 20^th Street  at 144^th Avenue south to half the northern detour route, three-quarters of a mile.

• Another priority is paving 144^th Avenue from 14^th 1.35 miles west to give direct access to Moline.

• Next would be 22^nd Street at 142^nd Avenue north to 146^th to give direct access to Wilson Avenue in Kent County.

• Regarded as “optional is a a joint project (if Salem Township agrees and its schedule allows) 24^th Street at 142^nd Avenue1.5 miles  north to 108^{th, actual three-mile stretch the costs of which the two townships could split 50-50.}

• Another possibility would be 16^th Street Between 140^th and 138^th where a culvert is already scheduled to be replaced later this year, but “We need to consider getting this pavement ready since the equipment will already be in place. It would be cost effective in the long run,” the committee’s recommendation reads.

Standel acknowledged that each of the proposed projects would cost more than two million dollars, but a three-mill levy, if approved, would bring in $635,000 per year.

She told the Township Board it is critical that the road millage is approved in May because otherwise, “The earliest we could have another election on this proposal would August 2016, and I don’t know if our roads can hold up until then.”

The previous road millage has expired, and Standel said it’s just not enough to handle the township’s growing transportation needs.

“All of our roads are over capacity for what they were built for,” she commented.

A request for 2.75 mills for roads was defeated by 22 votes, 644 to 622in the August primary .

The fire department millage is another attempt to fund equipment replacement, and some, Chief Gary Fordham said, is getting pretty old. Voters rejected a renewal request in August 2012, and the department has been short since.

“This millage would put in place a fund to replace our aging trucks and equipment,” Supervisor Jeff Miling said.

The half mill would generate the fire department between $100,000 and $105,000 a year.

The two millage requests in Dorr join an 18-mill non-homestead millage request May 5 for Hopkins schools and a referendum on a proposal to have just one trash hauler in the City of Wayland.