In lieu of holding an Annual Meeting, officials of Suttons Bay Township
last week held a public hearing on the millage necessary to support a
proposed $560,000 spending plan in the fiscal year beginning April 1.

The Suttons Bay Township Board opted nearly a decade ago to forego
holding annual meetings due to a lack of attendance by members of the public
for several years. Although a handful of people were in the audience at the
board’s meeting last week, no public comment was offered during the hearing.

During the current fiscal year, the township levied 0.5813 mills to support
township operations. That levy will be “rolled back” to a lower amount under
the Headlee Amendment to the State Constitution later this year. Following
the hearing, the township board voted 4-0, with trustee Ron Send absent, to
levy the maximum millage allowed by law.

Township officials noted that of the 0.5813 mills levied last year, some
0.3 was allocated as it has been for the past 28 years to support the
Suttons Bay-Bingham District Library. The $49,100 allocation for the library
this year is expected to rise to $54,500 in the coming fiscal year. The
remainder of the revenues raised by the township millage levy will be
combined with other revenues to support all other township operations
During its regular meeting on March 14, the board voted 4-0 to adopt the
budget.

The approved budget does not include expenses expected to result from a
contract the board approved earlier this month with the independent Suttons
Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue Authority. The contract was necessary because
voters in both Suttons Bay and Bingham townships rejected a proposed
2.3-mill levy in the Feb. 27 election to support fire and rescue department
operations.

Because the Fire and Rescue Authority will not be allowed by law to ask
voters to reconsider their decision, both Suttons Bay and Bingham Township
will again ask voters to approve the levy in a May 8 election. The 2.3-mill
levy was to replace a 1.5-mill operational levy approved by voters five
years ago plus a one-year 0.5-mill levy approved by voters last year to
cover a projected budget shortfall. Because the newly-established Fire and
Rescue Authority instead of the two townships asked for the millage,
however, it could not legally be termed a “replacement” millage.

Township officials say that unless voters in Suttons Bay and Bingham
Township approve the 2.3-mill levy on May 8, the Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire
and Rescue Department will be forced to cease operations by the end of the
year.

No determination has been made as to how or whether the two townships
might be able secure fire and rescue services from other municipalities.

Failure of the fire and rescue millage on May 8 will likely result in
increased fire insurance premiums for most property owners in the two
townships, officials say, plus an end to the 24/7 Advanced Life Support
ambulance service provided by the department for the past five years.
Meanwhile, taxpayers will still be required to pay down debt on the new
fire hall they voted to build even though the fire hall will be closed.

As part of its budget deliberations the Suttons Bay Township Board last
week voted 4-0 to expend up to $1,500 on a “voter education” campaign
leading up to the May 8 election. Township supervisor Rich Bahle said he
expected the Bingham Township Board to make a similar contribution to the
campaign which will include mailings and inserts in a local newspaper.

In other business during its regular monthly meeting, the Suttons Bay
Township Board:

• Learned that township treasurer Cathy Herman has proposed charging
Suttons Bay Public Schools $3.50 per parcel to collect summer school taxes.
Herman said the Bingham Township treasurer had proposed the same charges.

• Learned that a survey has been completed of the proposed Herman Park on
County Road 633 at Herman Road. Thought earlier to be 122 acres, the
property is actually 126 acres, said township parks and recreation committee
chairman Deb Slocombe. The township has already won nearly $400,000 in
state grant funding to purchase the property. The township board this week
authorized officials to apply for a Rotary Charities grant to help defray
some additional expenses before the parcel is actually acquired from the
family of the late Ralph Herman.

• Agreed to expend up to $6,000 for the creation of new maps that the
township’s Planning Commission will use jointly with the Village of Suttons
Bay Planning Commission to draft a new Master Plan for the two
municipalities. Both the village and the township will share costs of the
new maps and creation of the updated, joint Master Plan.

• Learned that a public hearing will be held at the township’s
rescheduled Planning Commission meeting on April 18 regarding a rezoning
request from Chris Branson who wants to build a small office building on a
portion of his 7.9-acre parcel on Peck Road near M-22 in the vicinity of
other commercial properties. During the Feb. 27 election, voters rejected
establishment of a new “Office Transition District” and the rezoning of
Branson’s parcel into the new district.