The stated motivation is being able to stop gravel trucks from driving on roads near a gravel pit on G avenue in Alamo Township. The trucks have to get to the pit somehow, which was opened despite the opposition of the Alamo Township Board. People understandably don't want these trucks on their roads, but there don't seem to be any good options in that regard. The Oshtemo board voted to prohibit trucks from some roads, but Alamo and Kalamazoo Township objected and the county road commission overruled Oshtemo's ban. Apparently they can't do that to cities.
Oshtemo explores pros, cons of city status
OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP -- "The city of Oshtemo."The Gazette article points out the big downside to becoming a city.
That has a nice ring to residents who see incorporating as a city as the way to prevent Oshtemo Township roads from being used as truck routes.
But even some who oppose use of Ninth and 10th streets as truck routes for gravel-mine operator Aggregate Industries say potential benefits of becoming a city need to be weighed against potential disadvantages.
"You have to think about how much the city would have to spend on maintenance of the roads, on our own police department. ... The county handles those costs now," said John Gesink, who has lived for 28 years on Litchfield Street, about 300 yards from 10th Street.
"If you want to become a city to improve the system or the way we do business, that's one thing. But to do it simply to keep trucks from using the roads doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
Residents' talk of becoming a city was spurred by the Oshtemo Township Board of Trustees' decision Tuesday to explore the ramifications of incorporating as a city. The move would give Oshtemo control of its roads and the power to prevent gravel trucks from using them. Township officials have been trying to keep trucks from the gravel-mining operation off certain major streets. Aggregate Industries opened the operation last year near 10th Street and G Avenue, in adjacent Alamo Township.
"It would be selfish to say just because I live on 10th Street that we should do whatever we need to do to keep the trucks away no matter what the cost," said Peg Cancro, 54, who has lived along the proposed truck route for 23 years. "I'm 100 percent against 10th being used as a truck route, but I'm not sure incorporating is the answer.
"I think it's a good idea to explore, but you have to look at the whole picture."
Taxes could increaseThe process for becoming a city is complex, but would require a public vote.
Gaining more authority and developing its own charter are among advantages that would come with incorporating as a city, said Mary Charles, information analyst for the Michigan Municipal League.
But Larry Merrill, executive director of the Michigan Townships Association, said taxes would increase if Oshtemo made the move.
"Taxation is the single impediment in why no townships have become cities in the past 30 to 40 years," he said.
Cities have the power to levy income taxes, whereas townships can levy only property taxes.
Charles said a city would have the authority to levy up to 20 mills, whereas Oshtemo currently can only levy 10 mills. If or how much taxes would go up would depend on how services like police protection would change and on what is laid out in a city charter. Oshtemo Township attorney Jim Porter said the township would seek residents' input regarding certain services such as police protection and whether it could be done on a contract basis, as is now done with the county sheriff's office.
"We're paying a fairly large portion of that expense already," Porter said of the cost of contracting for sheriff's deputies assigned to Oshtemo Township. "We'll look at what the citizens want and what form of government will serve them best."
So what would becoming a city mean to Oshtemo? Probably more speed traps.
Coincidentally, or not, the Oshtemo board recently went from all Republicans to three democrats, four Republicans.
Oshtemo doesn't need more government.
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