By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council approved an agreement with the DDA regarding responsibilities and cost allocation for capital improvement projects within the DDA district on March 24.
The motion, made by President Pro-Tem Stan Ford, also authorized Village Manager Darwin McClary to execute the agreement on the village’s behalf.
The 2025 DDA Public Infrastructure Fund Committee previously made recommendations for a calculation method of required annual contributions from the DDA to a public infrastructure account, and a proposed formal agreement governing the responsibilities of each entity and cost allocation, according to village documents.
The DDA and village council previously agreed that the DDA would place 75% of the increase in new tax captures into a fund that the village could then use for infrastructure improvements within the DDA district.
The DDA board approved the committee’s recommendations, but did not approve expanding the scope of duties of the committee to perform work on the village and DDA services agreement that was previously approved by the village council.
“I was very pleased with the results of the infrastructure ad-hoc committee on these joint recommendations,” Council Member George Dandalides said. “The level of cooperation, collaboration, the desire to achieve (a) win-win – I think it was outstanding. But I also have to say that I was very disappointed that the DDA board did not take action to extend the ad-hoc committee in an effort to achieve similar results on the administrative services agreements”
The council adopted methods of calculating the DDA’s annual contributions to the public infrastructure account according to resolutions they previously adopted in November 2022, and by what the DDA Board of Directors adopted in December 2022, according to village documents.
These methods are as follows:
1. The estimated contribution amount will be calculated based on the post-March board of review captured taxable value within the DDA district multiplied by the estimated millage rates for all captured taxes, less the base year 2022-23 tax revenue before subtracting the base year 2022-23 tax revenue as billed by the assessor ($896,788,) and then multiplied by 75%, according to village documents.
2. The actual annual contribution amount will be calculated based on the total DDA captured tax revenue billed by the assessor in July and December less $896,788, then multiplied by 75%.
Using these calculations, the tax capture billed revenue for 2022 was $896,788, $963,680 for 2023 and $1,019,833 for 2024, according to exhibit A of the agreement. Exhibit B shows the DDA’s contribution to the public infrastructure fund using numbers for the current-year taxable value for 2023-24 is $50,183.08, $92,284.08 for 2024-25, and is estimated to be $139,709.23 for 2025-26.
Near the end of the village council’s discussion, members unanimously approved the sidewalk gaps and Paint Creek Bank stabilization projects as the priority projects within the DDA district for use of the DDA public infrastructure account.
“I’m thankful to the committee. I know the Paint Creek stabilization project has been out for years, and there are some places that really need it,” Village Council President Teresa Rutt said. “So, I’m glad to see that as a priority that (they) came up with.”
Council Member Michael Lamb said it is “great” that funds will be set aside until projects are approved and available.
“It’s a new way for the village to set aside any funds whatsoever for any future, anything. So that’s great,” Lamb said. “And we appreciate the DDA’s cooperation in the matter. It’s one of the more successful joint ventures we’ve had.”
Lamb added maybe the council could reconsider the sidewalk gaps project and move its funds toward a bridge project at Children’s Park because the sidewalk-gap project is being put off until next year. He then asked McClary if there is a procedure that can be modified to allow council to use the funds for the bridge project.
McClary said the way funds will be used “should be a conversation that the council and the DDA board have every year.”
Essentially, the village is not locked into to spending the funds in a certain way at this point.
If the council moved forward with the Paint Creek bank stabilization project as the first use of the funds, McClary said he estimates the project taking two years to begin.
“The Paint Creek bank stabilization project is probably a ($300,000) to $400,000 project,” McClary said. “So, we would need another year’s allocation to be able to complete that without some other funding source.”