By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Royalton Township officials have voted to place a new fire millage proposal on the May election ballot to correct a clerical error not discovered until late last year. The proposal is the only item on the May ballot anywhere in Berrien County.
Township Manager Steve Tilly reported that the Township Board voted earlier this month to place a fire equipment millage proposal on the May 4 ballot. The passage of the millage request would correct an error made after voters approved a similar millage request in May, 2019.
“We were supposed to be levying an eighth of a mill for fire equipment,” he said. “Because of a typographical error, we were actually only collecting one tenth of one eighth of a mill.”
Tilly said the error wasn’t discovered until recently since the millage was first levied on the 2020 tax bills.
He said the new request asks township residents to approve a new millage to make up for the 90 percent of the original request that wasn’t actually levied. That translates to a millage proposal asking for a four year levy of 0.15313 mill each year. If approved, the millage will raise over $39,000 annually.
Tax revenue raised from the 2019 levy as well as this proposal will be put aside to serve as a down payment for a new fire truck the township expects to buy in five years. “We’re trying to save money for a new truck,” he said. “It will enough for a good down payment.”
Berrien County Clerk Sharon Tyler said the Royalton Township proposal will be the only item on the May ballot which means most county residents won’t have a May election. Only Royalton Township residents will go to the polls in May. The deadline to put proposals on the May ballot was Feb. 9.
Tyler noted that 2021 will be a quiet year in terms of elections as most local, county and statewide offices are up for election in even number years. Besides the Royalton request, the only municipalities that will have elections this year are the cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.
Tyler said both cities will elect new city commissioners in November. Whether there will be an August primary in either jurisdiction depends on the number of candidates who file for those posts. For example, the city of St. Joseph’s charter says that an August primary must be held if the number of candidates filing is more than double the number of seats open.
Back in Royalton Township, Tilly reported that the township is currently seeing more development take place. “Royalton is expanding,” he said.
He said two new nursing homes are under construction, one on Hollywood Road for Woodland Terrace and one on Niles Avenue for a Midwest company. The new Woodland Terrace operation will cater to Alzheimer’s patients. Those developments have a combined dollar value of $7 million.
In addition, a new 150 unit apartment complex is under construction as well as a new factory. In the latter case, he said Vail Rubber has moved part of its operation out of St. Joseph to a new facility in the township.
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