It appears Oxford Village residents will finally get to vote on whether or not they want the cityhood process to go forward.
A petition to hold a referendum election on cityhood garnered 152 valid signatures, according to township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who lives in the village at 14 Dennison St.
‘We needed 116 (signatures) to get on the ballot and we got 36 to spare,? said Dunn, who initiated the petition drive.
A total of 160 village residents signed the petition, however, Dunn determined eight of them were not registered voters, which is a requirement to sign.
Dunn plans to submit the petition to the Michigan State Boundary Commission before the Monday, April 14 deadline. The Boundary Commission must determine its legal sufficiency before a referendum can take place.
If approved, village residents would go to the polls at some point to vote on whether or not they wish to continue the process of incorporating the village as a home rule city.
‘It would be the first time since this whole thing started that someone asked village residents what they want to do,? Dunn said.
Dunn was grateful to village Councilman Tony Albensi for his help circulating the petition.
‘Tony got out there and talked to people. He really stepped up,? Dunn said. ‘He believes, like I do, that people should have a say in this before it goes any further.?
On Feb. 29, Keith W. Cooley, director of the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth, signed the order approving the village’s petition proposing its incorporation as a home rule city.
The order doesn’t become effective for 45 days, allowing residents time to petition for a referendum on the issue if they so desire. The petition must contain at least 5 percent of the village’s approximately 2,300 registered voters.
If a referendum is held and voters say they don’t the cityhood process to go forward, then Cooley’s order is ‘null and void? and incorporation proceedings are ‘terminated.?
If village voters indicate they want the process to continue, it will keep going, which means the election of a nine-member charter commission and future vote(s) on a proposed city charter.
Becoming a home rule city would mean the village would no longer be part of the charter township. It would become a separate primary unit of government.
As a result, village residents would no longer vote in township elections or pay the township’s 0.95-mill operating tax, which equals 95 cents for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
As a city, the former village would be obligated to assume and fund duties currently performed by the township government and paid for through the 0.95-mill tax.
Those duties include assessing property for tax purposes, collecting taxes for the county and schools, and conducting county, school, state and national elections.
Right now, the village only collects village taxes and conducts village elections.
However, even if the village did incorporate as a city, residents would still be obligated to continue paying certain township millages, previously approved by voters, until they expired.
Those township taxes include 2.5 mills for fire/ALS services, 0.83 mill to retire the fire bond debt and 0.8538 mill to support the parks and recreation department.
For instance, if parks and rec. gets its proposed 10-year millage renewal approved by township and village voters in August and the village becomes a city during that millage’s life, residents would be expected to continue paying the tax until it expired.
Because the library’s two operating millages (which total 1.3982 mills) were previously approved by township and village voters without expiration dates ? meaning they can be levied in perpetuity as long as there’s a library ? it appears city residents would continue paying those as well.
Village/city residents would also continue to pay 0.41 mill to retire the bond debt incurred to build the library on Pontiac St. in the mid-1990s.