On Wednesday, July 6, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution to place a four-year road & non-motorized path millage (named the “Washtenaw Road Funding Solution”) on the November 6 general election ballot. If approved by voters, the ballot measure would levy 0.5-mills and raise approximately $7.2 million countywide, at an average cost of $35 per year for homeowners.
The Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) estimates that the millage would fund approximately 200 miles of needed road repairs over four years. The cities of Ann Arbor, Dexter, and Saline all approved resolutions in support of a millage, in addition to four civic organizations and the Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission.
“While Lansing did approve a road funding package last fall, the funded is phased in over five years and during that time our roads will continue to deteriorate. We know residents want to see their roads repaired, and so we requested the County Board consider a voter-approve road millage to help us fill the funding gap,” said Roy Townsend, Managing Director at the Washtenaw County Road Commission.
The Road Commission emphasized that property owners would not see an increase in their tax bills as compared to the previous two years, as the proposed millage essentially extends the successful Public Act 283 (P.A. 283) road millage which funded approximately 140 miles of road improvements in 2015 and 2016. The primary difference between the two millages is that 20% of the funds generated by the four-year millage would go to the Parks & Recreation Commission to fund improvements to the County’s non-motorized path network.
Similar to the Public Act 283 millage, WCRC has developed a tentative list of road projects that would be completed over the millage’s four-year duration (2017- 2020). The County Board of Commissioners has requested that the Road Commission return to the County Board during their Wednesday, September 7 meeting to present a comprehensive four-year plan that will outline all projects, including the Parks and Recreation Commission’s non-motorized path improvements.
For more information about the millage, click here to view the Washtenaw Road Funding Solution fact sheet.
