Michigan voters are just over six weeks away from the August primary elections and there’s a slew of candidates and millage questions for for voters to decide.
Among those is a new public safety millage in Hagar Township. Supervisor Izzy DiMaggio says their fire department millage expired last December. The township is asking for that to be renewed, plus they’ve had to contract for ambulance services at a cost of $89,000 per year.
Rather than deplete the general fund for the expense, DiMaggio says they’re asking voters to build the cost into the annual assessment.
“That’s paramedic service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We need to cover that. The general fund could cover it for a while, but it’s not sustainable. We need a millage. So we have the one-mill renewal for fire. We are asking our residents if they’ll support a half a mill, five-tenths of a mill for ambulance.”
DiMaggio is optimistic voters will understand the need and benefits and approve the public safely millage.
“This money can only be used for fire and ambulance. It can’t be used for anything else. A property with about $100,000 cash value, this would cost that ambulance millage, that half a mil, about $50 a year. And that’s for 24-hour service. And the most important thing is that we will have this Medic One station at our public safety building, which is in the middle of the township, right in Riverside area.”
If approved. the public safety millage, at 1.5 mills for both fire and ambulance service, would raise an estimated $317,000 per year. The question for Hagar Township voters will be on the August 6 ballot.
“We have not asked our residents for new millage for 15 (or) 20 years minimum. Four years ago we reduced our millage. We had half a mil for equipment purchases for the fire department. We did not need that half a mil. We reduced it to a quarter of a mil. So I think the residents trust us that they know that we watch their money carefully, we have not been foolish in asking for additional millages for items that are not necessary.”
