By Mary Drier (Contact / Staff Bio)
August 16, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

SEBEWAING ‹ Those for and against the village of Sebewaing’s proposal to change to a home-ruled city can express their opinion next month at a public hearing.

The Department of Labor and Economic Growth - State Boundary Commission (SBC) will convene at 4 p.m., Thursday at the Unionville-Sebewaing Area School District’s auditorium for input from residents on the issue.

A petition on the request was filed with the SBC May 8 with 145 verified signatures. There are about 1,974 village residents.

“Their proposal would use the same village boundaries for the city,” said SBC Director of Land Survey and Remonumentation Keith Lambert. “To keep a uniform boundary, we suggested expanding it a little to straighten and align the boundary.”

SBC made the boundary adjustment during a June 19 meeting.

The BSC’s suggestion is to include two areas in Section 17 of Sebewaing Township. One area is north of Myers Road and south of E. Bay Street, and west of M-25, the other area is south of Sebewaing Road, west of Caro Road, and east of M-25.

The size of the village is currently about 1.6 square miles.

Maps are available at either the Sebewaing Village office, Sebewaing Township office or from the State Boundary Commission. One map shows the original proposed area that was petitioned, and the other map shows the area the SBC proposes to be adjusted.

Law outlines boundaries be squared off, if possible, in an attempt to avoid irregular boundaries, explained Lambert.

“The meeting will just be a hearing for what residents have to say,” said Lambert. “There will be no decision made one way or the other at the meeting.”

Oral or written comments may be presented at the hearing, or written comments can be mailed to: State Boundary Commission, Re. Docket #08-l-1 Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, 611 W. Ottawa St., P.O. Box 30704, Lansing, MI 48909; or e-mailed to holmes@michigan.gov no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6.

All correspondence regarding the issue has to be identified with Docket #08-l-1

The next step after all of that information has been transcribed and reviewed by SBC members will be a seven day period for rebuttal.

Village residents pay taxes to the village and to the township, are being governed by each and provided services by each. Becoming a city would do away with the layer of township government for those within the designated boundary.

So, if the village does change to being a city, it would remove that layer of government and mean a loss of tax base to the township.

The SBC will make a decision whether or not to continue the city process. If it is decided efforts to become a city should continue, there is a 45-day window for a referendum.

In order to have a referendum, a petition would have to be circulated to qualified to a electors in the affected in order to call for a referendum. This would allow village residents, as well as people currently outside the village who would be annexed into the city, the opportunity to stop or proceed with the process. Voters would then decide to continue or not on procedures for cityhood.

If there is no referendum called for, village residents will then elect a Charter Commission, which will develop the city laws. That commission has two years to draft the charter, which would then go before village residents for vote.

If the change to city procedure progressed, a charter would be drafted, which would explain the governing rules and tax levies, residents would vote on the language of the charter and could reject it or accept the terms presented.

As a city, the tax limitation is 20 mills; plus, up to 3 mills can be levied for garbage collection and disposal services. The average among cities throughout the state is 16.18 mills, and there are no township taxes.

Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.