Green Oak Police, Fire Issues Turned Down at Polls

When it meets tonight, the Green Oak Township Board of Trustees is expected to discuss the defeat of the in Tuesday's election.

At stake were a 2.5-mill police levy and a 2-mill fire levy, to continue the current levels of police and fire service for the next five years.  They would have replaced a 1.49-mill police levy and a 1.40-mill fire levy that expire on Dec. 31.   

The unofficial results for the police millage showed 840 no votes to 686 yes and for the fire millage, 796 no votes to 733 yes.  The results will remain unofficial until certified by the Livingston County Board of Canvassers.

Supervisor Mark St. Charles says the economy played a big factor, as did the low turnout at the polls. Only 11.4 per cent of the township's 13,398 voters turned out at the polls.  

St. Charles also says many people may be disgruntled with politics and government in general, and are expressing their displeasure at the ballot box, "Given the economy and sentiment toward public officials - not necessarily us - in Washington, in Lansing," he says.  

"We are obviously disappointed in the results," adds Township Clerk Michael Sedlak. "We're going to re-evaluate how long we can keep operating at our current levels," Sedlak says.

Sedlak says the township isn't going to make any knee-jerk moves, such as a hasty decision to present another request to the voters. "This is such a (critical) subject that we need to review it and assess it seriously," he says.  

The current police and fire millages will be spread on the tax rolls one more time, with this December's tax bills. 

The fire millage request actually passed in two of the township's six precincts - precincts 1 (56-55) and 5 (79-77), but the police issue was defeated in all six precincts. It came closest to winning in the same two precincts that approved the fire millage, losing 57-54 in #1 and 82-74 in #5.  

The fire department is funded solely from the millage, while the police department receives $175,000, or one-fourth of its budget, from the township's general fund. However St. Charles says there is no way the township could fund operations of the two departments through its general fund.

St. Charles says the township will have to take a long, hard look at its next action. "The departments and the (emergency services) committee, with the police chief and fire chief and the board (of trustees), will have to come up with a plan," he says.

In addition, he says the police and fire chiefs will have to come up with plans to operate their departments in 2012 with what remaining funds they have. "They're going to have to come up with a plan to modify services," he says.  

St. Charles says the police and fire departments can only operate until mid-2012 at their current levels. And he says if the board does decide to go back to the voters with different ballot proposals, it would likely be next August at the earliest, and possibly not until December 2012.