Shelby Township officials cut the ribbon on the township’s first stand-alone library on June 25, 2022. The new library more than doubled the space of the library’s former home and operates without any increase in taxes or a dedicated library millage.
By: Mary Beth Almond | Shelby-Utica News | Published April 6, 2026
SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Business View Publishing recently recognized Shelby Township as a “best managed” community for 2025.
Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said the distinction places Shelby Township among a select group of communities nationwide.
“It was totally unsolicited, a complete surprise,” Stathakis said of the honor. “We’re the only ones in Michigan that got this award and we’re really, really delighted.”
According to Business View, Shelby Township’s leadership “has mastered the balance of fiscal responsibility and visionary growth — holding tax rates steady for over a decade while investing in cutting-edge infrastructure, expanding green spaces, and attracting high-tech industries.” The publication said the “blend of economic strength, community pride, and forward-looking planning makes Shelby Township a model for municipalities nationwide.”
The recognition, according to the national publication, is reserved for municipalities across the U.S. that exemplify “exceptional leadership, fiscal responsibility, and strategic community growth.” Honorees are selected by the magazine’s editorial team based on an assessment of management excellence, including innovative infrastructure, service delivery and long-term planning.
The township, according to Stathakis, operates with two core principles — it’s mission statement, ‘the citizen is why,’ and always striving to meet or exceed the needs of its residents without increasing taxes.
Shelby Township’s local millage rate of 9.2999 has remained unchanged for decades, Stathakis said, despite steady population growth and weathering the 2008 economic downturn. The rate, he said, is the lowest among all Macomb County communities that provide residents with full-service, full-time police and fire protection.
“If you don’t have public safety, you don’t have a community. We have the best Police Department, Fire Department, the best equipment, and, more importantly, we have the right folks in those positions,” he said.
While maintaining low rates, the township has continued to make investments in public infrastructure without issuing debt or increasing taxes.
In 2012, a new police headquarters opened that was expanded in 2018, and two new fire stations were placed in each quadrant of the township to improve EMS response times.
The millage rate covers operations and programming for Shelby Township’s 1,300 acres of public parks as well as its 26,000-square-foot Shelby Township Library, which opened in 2022 as the township’s first stand-alone library facility.
Shelby Township also placed a $14.08 million, 3.5 million-gallon water reservoir into service in 2022, funding the project with cash to stabilize water rates and deliver long-term savings to residents. In its first three years of operation, officials said the David G. Miller II Water Reservoir saved each Shelby Township water customer approximately $500 and avoided a potential 13% increase in the township’s 2024 wholesale rate from the Great Lakes Water Authority.
Department of Public Works Director Danielle Allen said investments like the township’s water reservoir demonstrate how long-term planning delivers measurable savings for residents and rate payers.
“By funding critical infrastructure with cash and avoiding debt, Shelby Township continues to protect its customers and their wallets while strengthening the essential services our community depends on,” she said in a statement.
The township is more fiscally secure now than it has been in many years, Stathakis said.
In 2008, when the supervisor got elected, he thought the Township was about $85 million in debt, but when his staff looked through the books, he said, it was actually about $129 million.
“At that time, we had a budget of only $16 million, so the question is, ‘How do you get out of this?’ We had a new board elected that year in 2008 and fiscal conservatives were voted in, so we got together and came up with the idea of until we get this debt paid off, we’re just going to pay cash for everything — no bonding, no bargaining.”
That’s the way the township has been doing things ever since, he said.
“We have now gotten that $129 million down to about $27 million (in debt), so we’ve taken off $102 million since 2008,” he said. “In 2032, we will be totally, absolutely debt-free, if not before, so our finances are solid.”