In the primary elections of last month, Augusta Township also had two millage proposals on the ballot… one for police and one for fire service. Following an unsurprising trend the police millage failed by a large margin. Apparently the residents expect to keep getting service for free from the county, which is looking to lay off 30 deputies by the end of the year. Or maybe the all-volunteer Augusta Mounted Posse will step in to replace them? (I’m not even kidding, they really exist.) The fire millage was evenly split at 401-401, which means that it too failed to pass. As Augusta Township is a charter township by resolution and not by vote, it is not actually required to provide police or fire protection, so it may come as a shock to its residents when our operating funds dry up and the two services shut their doors. Ah well… I have a hydrant in *my* yard.
Fortunately, a former township board member and longtime supporter of the fire department took the lead on requesting a recount by the county and paid for it out of her pocket. The result was that one of the ballots contained a line through the “No” and an ‘X’ in the “Yes” box. The computer that scans the ballots read this as a “No”, and upon review, the court ruling was that this was an invalid vote. So… the fire department will have money to keep operating after all. Maybe they’ll buy us guns and vests now, since we won’t have any police officers any more?
