Thumb Villages of Sebewaing, Caro, Caseville, Port Austin Seek City Status
Residents Lured by Promise of up to 5 Mill Property Tax Reduction
January 17, 2008
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By: Dave Rogers
Seal of the Village of Sebewaing may be changed to read City of Sebewaing if a committee is successful.
Port Austin State Harbor is attractive to boaters and may become part of a new Michigan city.
Four villages in Michigan's Thumb are seeking to become cities and are facing a variety of hurdles.
Residents of Sebewaing, Caro, Caseville and Port Austin all are apparently attracted by the promise of lower taxes and benefits of city status including state and federal revenue sharing.
Estimated tax savings of up to five mills have prompted this wave of city status applications, MyBayCity.com has learned.
Caseville is farthest along, having won a referendum last September against dissidents attempting to stop the process, according to the Michigan Boundary Commission (MBC).
The proposed city of Caseville now must draft a charter and present it at another election, according to Christine Holmes, commission specialist in the Okemos office of the MBC.
The state had 10 applications from villages for city status in 2006 and seven in 2007, said Mrs. Holmes, adding: "The last two years we've been pretty busy."
Caro is waiting to schedule a referendum which must be held on one of the state designated election dates, either in May, August or November.
After approval of the application by the MBC, there is a 45-day window for any opposing group to seek a referendum on the proposal, said Mrs. Holmes.
Sebewaing is on its second round of signatures, having been rejected the first time because of an error in the map of the proposed city.
Sebewaing's proposal is complicated because part of the city would be in Huron County and another part in Tuscola County, said Don Beers, village councilman and chairman of the eight person committee.
Committee members in Sebewaing include another village council member, Josi Brooks, along with Scott Millerwise, Judy Schweitzer, Mary Fournier, Dale Bolzman, Fred Sharpsteen and Don Bolstetter.
Port Austin appears to be short by 13 residents of the required number of 750 to qualify to make application to the MBC, according to Ron Wyatt, chair of the committee. The Port Austin group is considering whether to wait for the next census to continue with the application process, he said.
Growth of at least 47 residents who are occupying new condominiums in the village since the 2000 U.S. Census appear to have put Port Austin over the top, he said.
A committee has studied eight different villages around the state that have made the transition city status in the recent past. Wyatt is a member of the village council and chair of the planning commission.
The Village of Sebewaing is circulating literature estimating a city tax of 41.27 mills as opposed to 45.52 mills at present under the village and township structure.
"There are so many perks that very few people are negative about it," said Beers. "There will be one tax bill instead of two and it will be less than we were paying before."
Other benefits to city status cited by Sebewaing include elimination of duplication of services, board of review and assessor and election services handled by the city, financial flexibility, an end to township operating and extra-voted millage, contractual ability with the township for fire, ambulance and library services, additional grant monies and revenue sharing.
Township officials "are not necessarily thrilled to death that we're pursuing this," said Wyatt. The same reaction by townships was experienced in the other jurisdictions surveyed by MyBayCity.com.###
Dave Rogers
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Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read, respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City. (Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)
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