Lake Orion Review Editorial

Village residents may have that feeling of déjà vu when they head to the polls this Tuesday, thinking, “Didn’t I already vote on a police millage?” but we assure you that the millage in question is a separate ballot issue, one worth supporting.
Lake Orion residents will vote for a continuation of the Lake Orion Police Department’s existing millage. The millage is a tax levy of 2.9885 mills annually and would generate approximately $354,000 in the first year.
The police department’s annual current operating cost is $801,000, with the difference covered from the village’s general fund and other revenues, so it’s not as if the village and police are asking for a handout here.
The police millage approved in Aug. 2 primary covers the 2016 fiscal year, ending June 30, 2017. The current millage proposal would begin in July 2017 and run through June 2018, and provide funding annually thereafter.
“It’s the same millage rate that the people approved four years ago, there’s not a penny increase,” said Police Chief Jerry Narsh. “The only difference is, now the village will collect it, not the township. Everyone in this community has passed the police millage for the past 26 years. There’s no reason not to this year.”
The ballot question is only for village residents, who will vote in Precinct 2 at Blanche Sims Elementary. The proposal will not appear on township residents’ ballots.
If the millage fails, the village would have to try again in May 2017. If that ballot request were to fail, the village would have to cover police costs from its general fund, taking away valuable dollars that could be used to fix watermains, streets and maintain village-owned properties.
The LOPD has four fulltime police officers, 13 part-time officers and 20 volunteer reserve officers who, in addition to community policing, lead parades and community events, and operate the Kids & Kops, Cops who Care and the Operation ID programs.
As long as village residents want to maintain that distinctive hometown feeling and Lake Orion identity, they should continue to support the hometown police department.

RTA Assessment
The Regional Transit Authority (RTA) of Southeast Michigan wants to levy a new 1.2 mills, 20-year property tax assessment to support transportation in Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and Macomb counties.
The assessment would cost the owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000 (market value of $200,000), about $120 per year. That’s in addition to the existing transportation millage.
We agree that there are residents who depend on public transportation, and we don’t like the prospect of these people facing reduced or eliminated bus routes to get to work or the doctor’s office.
However, this is an ill-conceived assessment with an astronomical dollar value attached.
And don’t forget, this area already has NOTA (North Oakland Transportation Authority), which serves Orion, Oxford and Addison townships and the villages of Lake Orion, Oxford and Leonard.
NOTA, based in Lake Orion, provides a transportation service for seniors and disabled and low income residents who need help getting to medical appointments, grocery shopping, community events and work.
Does the county really need an additional $160 million per year to run a bus system, which, for the most part, does not even benefit the majority of residents in the counties affected?
Talk about government efficiency.
To paraphrase (and completely turn inside-out) Winston Churchill’s famous line after the Battle of Britain: Never have so many been asked to pay so much to benefit so few.
We are urging people to cast a decisive “No” vote on the “Battle of Busing” aka, RTA Assessment.