Clark Township: Road Millage,Bus Bonds Approved by 27 Percent
By Amy Polk

Clark Township voters approved another five years of road millage and a new, five-year levy for school busses Tuesday, August 2, while voters in Marquette Township approved a road millage and a five year levy to support fire department and ambulance operations.

The Clark Township Road Millage of one mill was approved 304-157. The Les Cheneaux Schools Bus Bond issue was approved 277-183 in Clark Township, and 11-9 in Marquette Township (a portion of Marquette Township is in the Les Cheneaux Community Schools District). The approval allows the district to levy 0.41 mill in the first year, and district officials expect the rate to drop to as little as 0.37 mill by the fifth year.

Marquette Township voters approved, 35-3, to levy three mills for five-years for road construction and improvements, and voted 18-2 to levy 0.5-mill for five years for fire and ambulance services.

Twenty-seven percent (462 of 1,742) of Clark Township’s registered voters turned out for the election. Only 10 percent (40 of 389) of Marquette Township voters went to the polls.

The Clark Township road millage, in place by voter renewal since the 1980s, will generate $159,197 in the first year and approximately the same amount the next four years. The amount may increase slightly as property values increase. The money generated by the millage is spent on major road repairs, paving projects, resurfacing, and construction.

Armed with its new millage, Les Cheneaux Community Schools will borrow $350,000 by selling bonds over five years, to be repaid with the millage levied. The district will levy an average of 0.39 mills against both homestead and non-homestead properties over the five years.

Approving the bond issue will allow the district up to $70,000 a year to buy a new bus and pay the interest and legal fees on the bonds. State law restricts how the money can be spent, so if the district does not need $70,000 every year to buy a bus, the excess will be reflected in a lower millage rate in the following years.

Marquette Township’s road millage is a three mill renewal for five years, which will be used to rebuild and construct county roads in the township. It will generate $70,298.50 in 2005.

The fire and ambulance operations millage renews of a 0.5-mill levy for five years for general fire and ambulance operation and expenses for Marquette Township. The millage will net $11,716.47 this year.

Both millages will be levied against all Marquette Township homestead and non-homestead properties.

Details of the two township millages can be found in last week’s St. Ignace News.