Voters nix a tax increase.

Idiots! I should have posted this a few days ago, but I just got back the results today. In a vote 898-1000, Niles Township voters decided not to pass a 2 mill increase to further fund the Niles Township Police Department. Folks, we are facing the real possibility that the department will have to disband. I'm serious. As it stands currently, there are only 10 officers covering 44 square miles of territory cut into segments due to the size of the City of Niles (which falls under the jurisdiction of the Niles City Police Department.) Only two of these officers are full-time. And one of the remaining eight, is not even paid! Because the force is stretched thin, there hasn't been a night shift operating since last fall. So who has been picking up the slack? Well, the Berrien County Police Department and the Michigan State Police. Niles City PD said that they will respond to township calls--but only in an emergency. See, NCPD has it's own staff shortage. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but township cops are in a better position to respond in a timely matter than the County or State troopers. Hell, the nearest squad car may be a few townships away!

Two freakin' mills! That's all they wanted. A mill, by the way, is one tenth of one cent of the value of property being held. For every dollar that your property is worth, you pay one tenth of one cent. According to one of the news reports that I read, a township owner who has a $100,000 piece of property would pay an additional $100 per year. It was a nice even number to throw out even though there aren't many properties that valuable.

So what happens now? Well, things could remain the same, but the force is just inadequate. The township board may vote to disband the force and use that money to contract out to the Niles City Police as well as the County cops. Problem is, how much are they going to charge the township for protection and will they increase their patrols of the area?