Residents of Clearwater Township approved the 2017 levies as proposed at Tuesday’s annual meeting.

 

But it wasn’t without discussion.

 

When moderator Dave Kunkel asked for a vote on the three different levies, residents approved the general fund levy of $93,000 without question. That was a zero percent increase from the 2016 amount.

 

Residents also approved a no-increase levy of $59,000 fo the fire protection contract with the City of Clearwater.

 

But the proposed 10% increase on the road and bridge levy, from $300,000 to $330,000 was a different story.

 

A few residents felt there wasn’t any need for an increase because of a significant balance in the fund. At the beginning of the meeting, Treasurer Kristin Helwig said the road and bridge fund had a balance of $237,082.19. 

 

Two other funds, which have been created through transfers from the road and bridge funds over the years, also had hefty sums.

 

The equipment and building fund, which is used for building and new road equipment, had a balance of $120,038.29. The road project fund, which was created specifically for high-cost road reconstruction projects, had a balance of $359,030.55.

 

Last month at a special meeting, some residents argued against a reconstruction project on Illsley Ave. that would cost more than $200,000. Tuesday, that caused skepticism about the board’s recommendation to increase the road and bridge fund. Some residents felt the increase wasn’t necessary for maintaining the roads as much as it was another way for the board to continue building up the road project fund with transfers later in the year.

 

Supervisor Dan Mol said the $330,000 was just a recommendation.

 

“Just to clarify, this is a grass roots government. You, the people give us the amount of money that you want us to work with in 2017. You can drop it down to $200,000 for road and bridge,” he said. “We as board members are just like you. We’re voting citizens. If you give us $200,000, then that board has got to budget and maybe cut back on gravel or cut back on calcium chloride. There may not be money  to put in to a road and bridge project fund.”

 

Mol said the board doesn’t transfer any funds until the budget meeting in November. At that time, if there is surplus in the fund, the board decides how much to transfer. 

 

“At the end of the year we will make the decision how much to put in,” he said.

 

Mol said doing it before then was risky because road maintenance changes depending on the weather. He said there could be an expensive washout. He said the last two winters have been pretty mild, which had kept maintenance costs down. But that could change.

 

Resident Chuck Derry said there should be a better way to make the process more transparent. He recommended splitting the road and bridge levy into three parts so township residents could decide on each fund separately, rather than approve a bulk amount and have the board split it up later.

 

“Split it, then we can decide how much we want to put into road projects,” he said.

 

But when he made that motion later in the meeting, there was no second.

 

Residents approved the $330,000 without any “naye” votes.

 

The regular monthly township meeting is Monday at 7:30 p.m. During that meeting the board will be discussing whether to move forward with the Illsley Ave. road construction project.