Davison Twp. starts the year debt-free

By Monica Dufour
INDEX Staff Writer

DAVISON TWP. — Davison Township will begin 2008-09 with a fund equity of $191,095.

Along with that, Davison Township Supervisor Kurt Soper said the township also is totally debt free. He said the township paid its last payment on an old county sewer bond in April. “I believe few municipalities can make that claim.

Soper gave a recount of the budget to the board at a special meeting June 15. The township’s proposed budget is $ 6,058,101 which is up from last year’s budget of $5,969,510.

“The good news is that the millage rate stayed the same (at 0.8515 operational and 1.3969 police), the budget is balanced, and we’re proud to say that we’re not borrowing any money to balance it. We’re able to put $191,000-plus back into the fund equity.

Soper said expenses for the township board have increased from last year’s $82,916 to about $91,000. He said the big jump was because of the increasing cost of health insurance. He said it increased from $24,000 to $30,000. “That’s the big increase, and that’s pretty consistent throughout all of these budgets.

The supervisor’s department has increased from last year’s $203,484 to 208,636. Wages increased from $100,738 to $103,518. “Again, health care jumped $3,000. The rest of it stayed pretty close,” he said. “These figures throughout this budget reflect police, secretaries, board and employees of a 2.5 percent raise,” he said.

The clerk’s department increased from $281,338 to $306,816. Soper said the township has three upcoming elections, which added to the expenses. “Those expenses come from the clerk’s department,” he said.

Wages for the clerk’s department increased from $163,723 to $168,965.

The budget showed an increase in the treasurer’s department from $185,748 to $191,939. Wages increased from $109,725 to $112,364.

Soper said the building department increased from $524,484 to $557,353. “About $10,000 is wages in that department; otherwise things are pretty similar to what they have been. Health insurance went from about $69,000 to $81,224,” he said.

The assessing department increased from $186,727 to $203,347. Some increases were because of health insurance and pensions. Soper said non-union employees will see 1.3 percent more taken out of their wages to toward pension. More residents appearing before the board of appeals is another reason the department saw an increase, Soper said.

The police budget increased from $2,329,193 to $2,421,907. Police vehicles were part of the increase, Soper said. “We purchased two new cruisers. There were three, we cut one out,” he said. He said the board also cut out a request for cruiser cameras.

Soper said cuts were made to the hall and grounds from last year’s amount of $418,500 to $354,200 this year. “We’ve taken out a number of things,” he said.

Reductions included building repair and maintenance being cut from $88,000 to $60,000 and grounds repair and maintenance being cut from $82,000 to $60,000.

The township also cut its administrative public services, including roads, street lights and other services from $2,654,097 to $1,722,150.

The board approved the budget on a 3-1 vote. Treasurer Pat Miller was the only no vote. Trustee Tim Elkins was not present.

Miller said later, he could not vote for the budget. “I felt with the way the economy is, I didn’t think now was the right time,” he said.

Soper said later, with the police receiving 2.5 percent increases he thought the fair thing to do was to give everyone the 2.5 percent increase.