By DEBRA HAIGHT

Special to Leader Publications

The Howard Township Fire Department needs some help in terms of financial support and a new fire station, but township residents have not warmed to the ideas proposed by township officials to raise taxes.

More than 250 people packed Hope Community Church on Lake Street Tuesday for two public hearings on the township’s plan to levy a perpetual millage to fund fire department operating expenses as well as a five-year flat rate assessment to fund the construction of a new fire station.

While people spoke both for and against each proposal, an informal vote taken at the end of each public hearing had many more people standing against the proposals than standing for them.

The current effort to pass a per parcel assessment as well as a new millage comes after voters defeated a millage proposal last August. That proposal called for a 40-year millage levy of up to .8515 mill annually to pay for a $3.6 million new fire station.

Township Supervisor Craig Bradfield said Tuesday that he and other township officials took another look at the plans after that defeat and were able to cut the cost down to $772,000 by constructing a pole barn building instead of a conventional brick and mortar building.

He said the building the township would like to build for the fire department would be similar to the Central Cass Fire Station, built recently on M-60 just outside of Cassopolis. He and other officials reiterated Tuesday that the current building has a roof that is falling in, cracks in the walls and floor and sinkholes in the parking lot.

The two current proposals ask voters to pay an extra $45 a year for five years to raise money for the new fire station, as well as a sixth-tenths of a mill annual millage in perpetuity to pay for fire department operating expenses.

Bradfield said the $45 levy could possibly be lowered if the township contributes money from its reserves. He pointed out to residents that the township has lost $1.17 million in revenue sharing funds from the state over the last 15 years.

“If we had gotten that, we would be in better shape,” Bradfield said.

Bradfield said the board will host two more public hearings July 18 on the special assessment proposals and then vote on how to move forward in August. In the meantime, residents who oppose the township’s plans have until July 18 to file petitions signed by 10 percent of property owners to force a public vote this November.

Kent Poehlman was among those opposed to both proposals. He and his family farm in the township and own more than 30 parcels.

“If farming was a little better, we might be in favor but things are tight,” he said. “We feel this should have been brought before the public for a vote when it affects so many people’s lives.”

Several people said they want to support the fire department but cannot afford it.

“A lot of people are retired and on a fixed income,” Betty Kirkendoll said. “It’s not that we don’t want to have it but you can’t get milk from a cow without milk.”

“When taxes go up, they’re not going back down,” Bill Wozniak said. “The building is not in that bad of shape.”

He and several others said they thought the current building could be repaired for much less money.

Retired fire chief Fred Cribbs was on the other side, as were current and retired firefighters in the audience.

“These guys deserve everything they can get,” he said. “You have to give them a decent amount of money to get the equipment they need if you want them to come to save your property when it’s zero degrees out.”

Former township trustee Ashley Wentz said she is in favor of both proposals.

“If you only think it needs a new coat of paint, you don’t see the leaking roof or the sinkholes,” Wentz said. “If we do both, we won’t have to pull money from the general fund. We could repair the old hall and have more money for roads.”