Voters to decide on TAA renewal, farmland preservation proposal

Published by admin on Thu, 08/01/2019 - 3:00am

By:

Linda Gallagher, Contributing Writer

ANTRIM COUNTY – Voters in 11 of Antrim County's townships will have proposals to decide in the Tuesday, Aug. 6 special election.

In Central Lake, Chestonia, Custer, Forest Home, Helena, Kearney, Mancelona, Star and Warner townships, voters will be asked to renew a tax millage which – if approved – will allow those townships to continue to levy up to one mil for the purpose of providing funds for equipping, maintaining and operating the Township Ambulance Authority.

The Township Ambulance Authority (TAA) provides ambulance service to the nine townships named. If approved, the renewed millage would be in effect for four years. Approximately $560,000 would be raised for ambulance service operations during the first year of the renewed millage.

Voters in Elk Rapids and Milton townships will also be asked to decide on a farmlands and open spaces proposal that if approved would provide funds for the purchase of agricultural conservation easements on private lands within those townships. The one-mil tax proposal would be in effect for 10 years, expiring on Dec. 31, 2028.

Elk Rapids Township voters will also be asked to renew a cemetery millage for the continued maintenance, upkeep and repair of the township's Maple Grove Cemetery. If approved, the .60-mil tax levy, an increase over the previous millage, would be in effect for 10 years, expiring on Dec. 31, 2028, raising $163,920 in the first year of the millage.

In addition to the farmlands and open space proposal, Milton Township voters will be asked to renew an existing ambulance service millage, which allows for up to .75 mils levied, and a renewal of an existing road millage, which allows for up to .70 mils levied. Both renewals will expire at the end of 2023.

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