Road Repair Project 2009
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Why aren’t my property taxes covering the cost of the road?
Answer: Road repair and maintenance for Livingston County comes from automobile gas tax paid at the pump. On average the road commission received $1,900.00 a year to maintain our entire subdivision. They do not receive any funds from the property taxes we paid.
2. What is the approximate cost of the repairs?
Answer: The total cost of the project would be approx. $1.3 million dollars. They would grind out the existing roads throughout the entire subdivision and start over from scratch. We have been talking with Genoa Township as well as the road commission about helping us with the cost of the project. The road commission will fund approx. 20 % of the project; Genoa Township will fund approx. 25% and finance the remaining $750,000.00 to the homeowners at 0% interest over the next 4 years.
3. How will each resident be required to pay for these repairs?
Answer: The total bill will be divided equally between each homeowner in the subdivision. NOTE: If you own more than one home in the community, you will be required to pay the portion assessed to each home that you own. The approximate cost at this time is about $400 per year, per home owned in the subdivision. This would be applied to your WINTER tax for a period of FOUR (4) years. We are currently attempting to see if the total of approximately $1600 can be paid off in one lump sum rather than having it applied to the tax bill. The Township has also mentioned that anyone proving hardship or a low-income household may be able to defer the cost via a lien that the Township would place on your property.
4. Can a decision to move forward with the road repair and subsequent increase to our tax
bill be done without my signature of support?
Answer: Yes. If at least 60% of the affected homeowners support having the road repaired sign and agree to the improvement.
5. Would the cost of repair continuing to rise the worse the road becomes and the longer we wait?
Answer: YES!!! Since our board first approached the Road Commission concerning the conditions of our roads,
our portion of the cost has risen from $500,000 to the current $750,000.
Additional Thoughts:
Is the cost of continuous repairs to our cars and trucks worth saying no to having our roads fixed permanently?
There is no way our roads will be re-paved unless we pay for it ourselves, the Road Commission has made that very clear. Fixing the roads might help to sell some of the properties that have been on the market too long. It may even help to regain some of the loss in value we have all had on our homes over the past few years.