Sylvan Township voters express interest in recount on millage proposal
After initial election tallies showed a millage proposal in Sylvan Township passed by a seven-vote margin Tuesday, residents have expressed interest in a recount to the Washtenaw County clerk's office.
The 4.4 mill tax put on the primary ballot in Sylvan Township will raise funds over a 20-year period to pay back the $13 million debt the township owes the county for a water and sewer development project and in back taxes. The county picked up the township’s loan payments in May after the township defaulted.
Registered voters in Sylvan Township will have six days to ask for a recount after the final canvass report is collated by the Washtenaw County Board of Canvassers.
The canvass report -- which began Thursday -- likely will be finalized next week, said Ed Golembiewski, director of elections for Washtenaw County.
“I can imagine that (the vote is) close enough to pique some interest in a recount,” Golembiewski said.
Golembiewski said he has explained the recount process to several interested Sylvan Township residents that have called his office.
When filing for a recount, a $10 deposit must be contributed for each precinct for which a recount is requested.
If the vote total changes as a result of the recount, the deposit will be returned.
The 4.4 mill tax passed in a 480-473 vote with about 37 percent voter turnout in Tuesday’s primary. The tax would cost an individual with a house with a taxable value of $100,000 an additional $440 per year in taxes.
The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved a contract for Sylvan Township to pay back the money owed about a week before the August primary, said Commissioner Rob Turner, R-Chelsea.
Had the township not approved the millage, the county would have had to pursue legal action against the township to pay back the money owed.
A similar millage proposal to pay back the debt was before the voters of the county once before, in November 2011. Voters rejected a 20-year, 4.75 mill tax levy, 475 votes to 328 votes.
Turner attributes to the fact that voters that supported the millage stayed at home believing it would pass without their votes.
Turner said he believed the millage passed this time - albeit narrowly - because more informed and more motivated residents were hitting the polls.
- Read a copy of the recount guidelines: Recount Process - County Board of Canvassers.pdf
- View a copy of the petition: Recount petition.doc
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.
Comments
clownfish
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 1:25 p.m.
The Chelsea Standard reported that there were still 307 absentee ballots to count above and beyond the 480-473 votes counted, have the absentee ballots been counted yet?
Amy Biolchini
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 4:12 p.m.
I asked Ed Golembiewski that question and he said that the absentee ballots were included in that 480-473 total. The official canvass has yet to be completed.
ChelseaBob
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 10:51 a.m.
I hope not. We owe the money and will have to pay regardless. The only question is whether we waste money on a lawsuit. The good news is the real estate market is perking up, and interest in building is increasing. In a few years the system will start collecting revenue again. My question is, if the tap fees start coming in, will we get the millage refunded?
brooktrout
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 4:15 p.m.
Sorry to parse this too closely, but here are the issues: there is a distinct difference between special assessments payments, which can only be directed to bond retirement (i.e. paying back the county who repays the bond), and tap fees, which have no such restrictions. If the township is fortunate enough to collect tap fees anytime in the near future, they will likely just go to close the operating deficit of the sewer and water systems and residents will see no relief from the tax bill. Of course, if some sub-division in Lima comes in (this was always the dream) and builds 300 homes at $10K or so each in combined tap fees, that would make an impact. However, that subdivision would be competing with the empty sub-division sites in Sylvan Township, which have their Special Assessments largely paid off (which is why the taxpayer is left holding this bag), so let's not all hold our breaths waiting for tax payer relief. One of the valid reasons for voting no on the millage, it seemed to me, was exactly this sort of lack of flexibility the millage enforced on the township. With yearly consent judgments (which handled properly could have been very low cost events, since much of the language would move boiler plate year to year), the township could have used a windfall such as one from the savior Lima development mentioned above, should it ever have been blessed with such, as the payment to the county for that year and perhaps the next. As it is, this millage is here, for the next twenty years. My understanding is that it could of course be ended early if there were other funds to pay off the bonds, but that is at the end of the millage, with no tax holiday afforded for fortuitous events. (Since these bonds were a refinancing, I believe they are not callable, which means that even if the township has the money to pay them off---via the county, of course--it will not be able to do so.
Ralph
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 12:06 a.m.
Actually, it was the Geico Flobot's. They will pay no matter what the recount shows. The County will sue them and they will lose.
LXIX
Thu, Aug 9, 2012 : 10:55 p.m.
Four japanese robots with fake voter IDs were seen speeding out of Sylvan Township early this morning. The four were later seen comandering a bus full of well-dressed mannequins somewhere near Ann Arbor.
snapshot
Thu, Aug 9, 2012 : 7:34 p.m.
This should serve as a lesson to all elected officials who spend and commit taxpayer dollars freely without regard or consideration of how future events might impose severe financial consequences for property owners. Amy, I'd like to know which county commissioners voted to provide this 13 million guarantee and those that oppossed it.
John Q
Fri, Aug 10, 2012 : 3:18 a.m.
This mess has nothing to do with how elected officials spent tax dollars.