Next week, many Oxford Township and Village voters will get in their cars and drive to the polls to determine if they want to pay more taxes so they can walk and bike their way around the community.
During the Tuesday, Aug. 5 primary election, voters will be asked to approve or reject a proposed 10-year, 0.25-mill safety path tax.
‘We need safety paths in our community,? said Lawrence Kucemba, the candidate for township supervisor who was instrumental in creating the tax proposal and lobbying for it to be on the ballot. ‘We need a more walkable community. We need a more bikable community.?
If approved, the township would start levying the tax in December and it’s expected to generate $221,427.87 in its first year of collection.
The money would be used for the property acquisition and construction costs associated with creating new safety paths along with paying the maintenance and replacement costs for existing ones.
‘It won’t complete our safety paths, it’s just going to give us a little bit of money so that we can perhaps get grants and expand our safety paths ? complete little sections of it,? said Kucemba during the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce Candidates Night held July 24. ‘The idea was to use that as seed money to get more grants to improve our safety paths.?
A few years back, the township created a plan that called for constructing an additional 46,500 feet (or 8.8 miles) of asphalt safety paths along W. Drahner, Seymour Lake, Granger, Dunlap, Ray and Oxford roads along with a path connecting the POH Medical Center to W. Market St. in Waterstone.
Kucemba noted that with gas prices hovering around $4 per gallon, safety paths are a sound investment for the community.
‘It’s cheaper for a family of four to support the safety path (millage) than it is to fill up their tank with gas,? he said.
Thanks to a suggestion from township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who opposes the proposed tax because of the dire economic times, should the millage be approved, the $36,760 collected off village properties will be rebated to that municipality for use on its own sidewalk and safety path system.
Unfortunately, the money cannot legally be rebated to individual taxpayers.
Trustee Candidate Mike Spisz said he believes safety paths are a ‘great idea,? but asking for a new tax isn’t a good idea in this troubled economy.
Spisz would rather see a private fund-raising campaign to build them like what was done with Kids Kingdom and is currently underway with the KLR Splash Pad to be built in Seymour Lake Park next year.