Are township governments at stake?

State Democrat sponsoring bill to eliminate township authority

By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

A state legislator is proposing legislation that, if passed, would essentially abolish township governments in Michigan.

If the proposed House Bill No. 4780 is passed, 1,175 of Michigan’s 1,242 townships will have to fork over their governing privileges to surrounding counties come December of 2008.

On May 17, state Rep. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, sponsored the bill, better known as the “township services consolidation act,” slating that townships’ duties of assessing property, collecting taxes, conducting elections, and providing fire and police services will be turned over to local counties in an effort to pull Michigan from its fiscal crisis.

Members of the Michigan Townships Association and local township supervisors “stridently” oppose the idea.

MTA Executive Director Larry Merrill argues that it would cost the state millions of dollars to accommodate this kind of expansion, and for things townships have already invested in. “The state would have to pay the counties to take over all these services,” he said. “This is so much more work; they’ll have to hire more staff.” If the legislation is passed, county workers will most likely have to take on an additional 30-40 hours a week to pick up the slack.

The idea is to consolidate the responsibilities of townships, eliminating the jobs of thousands of local officials and employees, and have townships pay the counties for services. “Townships will be paying out of the pocket for services they don’t have any control over.”

“The concept behind consolidation is something we support, and we will be working with the House on it,” said Liz Boyd, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s press secretary. “Certainly, we know that efficiencies can be saved through consolidation. (And) we support consolidation efforts.”

But while supporters of the bill are sure the concept will ultimately help state revenue, township supervisors think the opposite.

“Townships are by far the most economical value for your dollar,” said Macomb Township Supervisor John Brennan. “(County) costs would be about three times more than what we do it on our own for.”

Brennan, along with others, believes that if the bill passes, people living in townships won’t receive the attention they’re paying for. Because the consolidation would bring more demand to existing county services, Brennan feels that residents living in townships would be ignored.

“Until they can show me how it will be cheaper,” he said, “it’s a slap in the face.”

Larger townships with adequate safety personnel are not at the same risk as rural townships. The legislation states that townships with populations less than 10,000, and those with populations more than 10,000 but less than 20,000 without fire and police services available 24 hours a day, are directly at risk.

“Our township would never be considered, but they’ve forgotten this country was founded on home rule,” said Clinton Township Supervisor Robert Cannon. “If people want to govern themselves, they have every right to do that. I would never presume that as a township, just because you’re small, somebody can take you over.”

Merrill added that the bill only targets townships, not small cities and villages. “No cities were included in the legislation, even those far smaller than townships,” he said. If the legislation goes through, 95 percent of MTA members will be impacted.

“I don’t think that’s really a way to save money,” said Cannon.

In Harrison Township, Supervisor Anthony Forlini called the bill an attempt by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to “push the responsibility” for budgetary woes away from the state and on to local communities.

Unable “to take care of this monster appetite for spending,” state legislators have continued to divert funds away from municipalities, he said.

“If they want to start to streamline government, they need to start at the state level,” said Forlini. “We’ve streamlined our government over the last few years, yet the governor’s budget for next year shows 705 additional employees.

“That’s $49 million more a year, just in increased cost of employees. What we do on a day-to-day basis matters more to our citizens than what they do at the state level.”

“They assume that it will be cheaper to consolidate government services, but it’s not the case,” said Merrill. “Townships are far more convenient and user-friendly in the quality of services to residents.”

Condino’s office is not commenting on the issue at this time.

Staff writers Cortney Casey and Heidi Roman contributed to this report.