Northfield Township officials are putting the final touches on their next fiscal year budget.

Northfield Township Manager Steven Aynes led a discussion of the upcoming 2019-20 budget with the Board of Trustees during their meeting, Tuesday night. Requesting more time to review and discuss the document compared to last year, this was the budget’s 7th time in front of the board this year. Supervisor Marlene Chockley said they are taking citizen input seriously. In study conducted by the township, the supervisor said residents were given several options on where they would spend money, and results came back pretty even across the board. Some of the categories to consider were roads, land preservation, downtown, and economic development. Chockley said that because of the close percentages for each option, she believes it is important that they not ignore one facet of the township in favor of another.

A couple challenges are still to be faced. North Village development continues to be on the mind of everyone. The township has one potential developer they are working with, with Aynes alluding to a second one in the wings for possible consideration, though he wasn’t ready to go formally public with more information on that. Chockley also said that roads and how to fund improvements continue to be a challenge, stating that 10% of their budget is dedicated to them.

Northfield Township residents under the proposed millage rate would pay a total of 7.8713 mills. Chockley said this actually down half-a-mill from last year due to the Headlee Amendment, but because of rising property values, residents should expect to pay a comparable amount of taxes compared to the current year. Of that, 4.3664 would be for the police, and 1.9675 dedicated to fire and medical rescue. The general fund millage will be .7756, with building bond debt set at .7618. The Board of Trustees has one more meeting to approve the budget, which will go into effect on July 1st. (MK)