By Amy Joles (Contact / Staff Bio)
November 10, 2009 - 01:44 p.m. EST

CARO — Sure, Caro is a city now, taking in parts of two townships. But what does that mean for the portions of township that were left out of the city?

It simply depends on where you live.

Both Indianfields and Almer Township lost portions of land when the village became a home-rule city after Tuesday’s election. With that land went some of their tax base.

“We have a budget of about $503,000 per year,” said Bill Campbell, Indianfields Township Clerk. “A little over $200,000 comes from the village (now city).”

With that portion of the township being incorporated into the City of Caro, those dollars will no longer go toward the Indianfields budget.

Almer Charter Township, which lost a smaller portion to the city, stands to lose between $55,000-$60,000. Of that amount, $25,000-$30,000 is money that can no longer be levied as a township road millage from residents that are now within the city limit.

“We just won’t have as much road millage to spend,” said Jim Miklovic, Almer Charter Township Supervisor. “We are actually pretty fortunate to even have a road millage.”

Miklovic said the rest of the anticipated loss will have to be made up by budget cuts.

“Maybe some of the services we provide for free right now will no longer be free,” he said. “We haven’t decided on anything for sure yet.”

For several months prior to Tuesday’s vote, village and township officials negotiated the possible division of assets. Almer has a tentative agreement with Caro officials.

“The village council could not act on it because they could not vote on something on behalf of the city council,” said Miklovic. “Now that a city council is in place, they can take action. When they approve it, we can approve it.”

Almer has agreed to allow city residents to use their cemetery for 10 years at the same rate that township residents pay. The township also agreed to keep Darbee Farm Park rates the same for everyone.

“There’s a cash settlement as well, of $14,500,” said Miklovic. “When you talk about division of assets, our fund balance counts as an asset and that is the figure we have agreed on.”

Almer Township has also agreed to give the City of Caro one of their two voting machines as part of the agreement. The city will be responsible for holding its own elections now.

“There are a lot of things that people said about how the townships don’t provide services and that people were paying for nothing,” said Miklovic. “But there are a lot of things that the township provides that people do not know about.”

One such service is property assessing. The city will be required to provide that service for residents now. Previously, the village could rely on the townships.

Caro Mayor Tom Striffler said there are a few options for the city, including hiring an assessor or contracting with the county.

On Indianfields’ end, much is left to be determined. Nearly two sections of the township are now city property, including the portion on which the township offices are situated. Because the township must hold meetings and elections on township property, the township can no longer meet at or vote in their township hall.

Recently, the township held a planning commission meeting at the Indianfields Township Cemetery chapel. Legally, the township can maintain office hours and store records at the building in the City of Caro.

“Hopefully, we can write a grant and either purchase a building or build one,” said Campbell. “That is a long way off, though.”

Indianfields has not reached any agreement on their division of assets. The township currently levies no road millage, which may change.

“The only services that we are required to provide is assessing property, collecting taxes, a place to vote and maintaining our cemetery,” said Campbell. “Other than that, we do not have to provide fire protection, road maintenance.”

Campbell said the township will continue to look at all options - even if that means cutting back employee hours or closing their park.

“We can do one of two things. We can either reduce services and expenses or we can increase our budget through new taxes,” said Campbell. “We’re in a bind and we don’t have a whole lot of options. There wasn’t cooperation between the village and township like there should have been a long time ago.”

Amy Joles is the editor of the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at joles@tcadvertiser.com.