LAKETOWN TWP. — Laketown Township voters will decide on a renewal of the tax funding fire department and infrastructure needs in August.
The township board voted May 8 to place a fire, road, bicycle path and drain millage renewal on the Aug. 6 ballot. If approved, the proposal will continue a 2-mill tax levy and bring in an estimated $1,198,000.
Funds would pay for operations, equipment and apparatus acquisition for the Graafschap Fire Department, plus the repair, construction, reconstruction and blacktopping of roads and bicycle paths and repair and maintenance of drains.
Some board members expressed interest in separating the millage into one millage for the fire department and another for roads, drains and bike paths. Township Manager Al Meshkin advised the board to review the idea ahead of the next renewal, in 2026.
The millage was last approved in 2022. It received support from just under 64% of voters, with 1,320 “yes” votes to 749 “no” votes. That authorization expired Dec. 31, 2023.
A pair of projects recently approved by the board are funded with proceeds from the millage.
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On May 8, the board approved spending around $526,000 to have 3.01 miles of 145th Avenue, from 66th Street to 60th Street — plus 0.47 miles of 61st Street, from 147th Avenue to 32nd Street — resurfaced. The city of Holland is paying about $51,000 for a local portion of the work.
In April, the board approved a $51,700 culvert replacement on 145th Avenue before the repaving project begins.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.