Beaver Island Township

John Fiegan and Angel Welke

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On January 10, 2018 the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners set May 8, 2018 as the date for a vote in Peaine and St. James Townships to decide if the townships should be consolidated into one township. The county acted after receiving in November petitions signed by registered voters in both townships that met requirements of Michigan’s township consolidation law.  We were the circulators of those petitions.

 

The proposal that the county authorized for the ballot on May 8, the date scheduled for statewide elections, will be as follows:

 

Shall the townships of Peaine and St. James be consolidated as the township of Beaver Island, with the following extra voted millages and expiration dates:

• Fire, 1.0 mill, 12/31/2018

• Health Center, 2.0 mills, 12/31/2018

• Transfer Station, 1.8 mills, 12/31/2019

• Roads, 1.4 mills, 12/31/2019

• Townships’ Airport, .85 mill, 12/31/2019

• Emergency Medical Services, 3 mills, 12/31/2019

• Historical Society, .1 mill, 12/31/2019

• Township Operation, 3.6 mills, 12/31/2018

 

The consolidation proposal must be approved by a majority of voters in each township, or it will not take effect.

 

If consolidation is approved, Beaver Island Township will take effect November 20, 2018, under state law. It will be a general law township, like Peaine and St. James Townships, and will have five trustees, including a supervisor, clerk, and treasurer. Election of the new township’s board will occur at the August 2018 primary and the November 2018 general elections, just as election of Peaine and St. James township boards would have occurred. 

 

In addition, a temporary coordinating committee will be established to prepare for consolidation. It will draft resolutions for consideration by the new township board and an interim budget. The committee will contain the supervisors, clerks, and treasurers of Peaine and St. James Townships. It may also contain several township residents who are registered voters, but this remains to be determined.

 

Under the county’s decision, each township may decide to also use the May 8 election to allow voters to elect at least one registered voter to the coordinating committee. (An

elected or appointed township officer or employee is not eligible to be a resident member of  the coordinating committee.) Under state law, St. James may allow the election of up to two residents, because it had the larger population in the 2010 U.S. Census. Under the county’s decision, each township must pass a resolution by February 13, 2018 if it wants to allow election of residents. Any resident who wants to be on the May 8 ballot must by February 7 submit to the relevant township’s clerk a qualifying petition signed by at least 15 registered voters in the same township.

 

Background

 

The Michigan township consolidation law requires that the proposal state the name of the new township and specify the “extra voted millages” for the consolidated township. This is the authorized rate, which sets the cap on the rate that a township board may levy against a property’s taxable value.

 

Between Peaine and St. James Townships, there are eight extra voted millages for different purposes with different authorized rates and expiration dates. In some cases, the townships levy less than the authorized amount.

 

The consolidation proposal contains all of the townships’ different extra voted millages, but would set authorized rates that blend together the existing Peaine and St. James authorized rates. The expiration dates for millages in the proposal would not extend beyond an existing expiration date already approved by voters.