Brown Township

The Brown Township Zoning Commission Hearing for Proposed Changes

In the Spring newsletter the trustees mentioned that our road levy was up for renewal. After several discussions and due to the uncertainty of what our state legislature was going to do the trustees decided to be totally transparent with our intentions in regard to the upcoming levy.  We know that ballot language can be confusing so here is the explanation.

The levy was originally was passed in the early 2000’s.  Over the years the trustees renewed the levy at the property tax rate decided in 2005.  Up until the last few years that money and the general fund have been enough to cover our road maintenance and purchases.  The charts on this page give you two examples of how much costs have gone up.  In this time we purchased two smaller dump trucks, a new tractor/mower, a skid loader, trailer for the skid steer because the mower trailer could not handle the weight of the machine.  Both the John Deere tractor and the new Ford dump truck cost over $100K each.  We also know that our 17 year old large dump truck used as our main snow plow truck is going to need replaced sooner than later.  Our fuel prices have also increased, just like yours, along with all the other utilities.  In addition we purchased additional land for the park and are getting questions as to when we will start park improvements.  

We have decided to let the old levy expire and ask for a new levy with a simple explanation.  The levy we propose is for 2.5 mils for road improvement .  This levy will cost the residents $88.00 per $100K evaluation.  The levy will raise $280,726 per year based on the evaluation of property in the township of $112,290,470 as certified by the County Auditor.  The old levy provided $80K.

For the township to continue with the road improvement program the trustees have established over the years we believe this amount is justified.  Without this levy the trustees will have to cut back on road maintenance and will have to tap into the general fund preventing us from having additional funds for any other township improvements