Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The future of road funding in Handy Township will be a forthcoming topic of discussion following Tuesday’s General Election.

Voters defeated a road millage with 62% of the vote - 2,429 “no” votes to 1,467.

The proposal was for 1-mill for four years, which would have generated around $471,000 in the first year.

Supervisor Linda Hinton told WHMI News “It’s disappointing. In the history of Handy Township, from my understanding, it has never failed before so I was somewhat surprised it didn’t pass. And it’s unfortunate because we use those funds for road improvements and maintenance. We need around $70,000 to $100,000 annually just to apply calcium chloride to our gravel roads to keep the dust down - not to mention adding limestone or gravel to roads to keep them in better shape for our residents”.

Hinton noted that for the last few years, the Livingston County Road Commission has actually paid for the first application of calcium chloride and from there, the township generally applies two or three more rounds during the summer months.

There were three projects chosen by the board that were completed this year with the road millage funds.
Hinton said they had new limestone laid on Cemetery Road – noting it’s a very busy gravel road that’s become a truck route over the years so it sees a lot of traffic. She said they also added new gravel to Hogback Road south of Grand River, and re-applied gravel to Converse Road.

When the winter taxes are collected by this spring, Hinton said that will be the last of their road millage funds as the levy expires. While nothing has been finalized, she said the other big project they had been planning for was resurfacing Fowlerville Road between Sharpe and Allen Roads.

Hinton commented she does receive complaints about Fowlerville Road, and the Road Commission has actually even approached her to advise that they need to plan and get it done within the next few years.

Hinton said now without any more road funding coming in, she’s questioning whether they should use up the last of it or try to retain some for emergencies. She asserted “I’m a very good fiduciary of the taxpayer’s money and I don’t spend it on things that we don’t need but I would like to keep a bit of a cushion in the road fund if at all possible”.

Hinton stressed the board has not decided any next steps. She said the board hasn’t formally met since the election results so it hasn’t discussed the financial aspects of what this will mean for their general fund or road fund moving forward.

While the board normally meets on Mondays, the next meeting is set for Wednesday, November 18th.