Oxford Township officials last week decided to invest $71,803 in surplus funds in real estate and safety paths.
The board voted 4-1 to purchase approximately 5.84 acres of land belonging to the township’s 2,456 water customers for $38,500. ‘The water system really doesn’t need that property,? said township Supervisor Bill Dunn.
The land adjoins, on the north side, the existing 27 acres which the township already owns along Dunlap Rd., north of Seymour Lake Rd. The 27 acres houses the township’s office complex, a water treatment plant and an municipal well field.
In 2006, the township’s water system received the land for free when the developers of Waterstone donated it. The land is really of no use to water customers because there’s already adequate water system infrastructure in place.
Officials decided to purchase the 5.84 acres in order to help the water customers pay their $13.26 million debt, which must be satisfied by October 2030.
This debt, which originally totalled $17.9 million, was incurred when necessary improvements were made to the water system including construction of two treatment plants and a 1-million gallon elevated storage tank on N. Oxford Rd.
Township officials decided to put the remaining $33,303 worth of surplus monies in the safety path fund.
Back in July, the safety path fund received a $200,000 allocation as officials began deciding how to divy up surplus funds from the 2011 fiscal year.