New Sidewalks, Roofs Among Improvements Slated for Northville Schools

Correction: City clerk Dianne Massa's name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.

A measure to create a sinking fund to pay for a list of capital improvements at several buildings was well on its way to approval by district voters Tuesday.

Support of the ballot measure will create a $2.4 million sinking fund that will be financed by a five-year, .1 mill tax increase to maintain buildings, and presumably focus the general fund on matters related directly to the district’s classrooms.

"This millage will help us to relieve the pressure on our general fund, will help us to maintain our buildings" said School Board President Joan Wadsworth. "We are absolutely delighted."

Unofficial numbers indicate that 2,216 Northville Township residents voted in favor of the millage, versus 1,696 who voted against it. In the City of Northville, 657 voted yes and 380 voted no. In Lyon Township, 8 voted yes and 15 voted no. And in Novi, 505 voted yes and 295 voted no. Novi Township cast 14 votes in favor of the mills, and 11 against it.

At the polls, voters explained why they voted the way they did.

“I don’t have any kids in the schools any more, but the district did a good job of preparing my daughters for college,” said Jeff Snyder, a Northville resident that voted in favor of the proposal at Northville City Hall.

“One of the reasons we moved here is because of the schools. That’s the reason a lot of people move here. So we need to preserve that,” he said.

Robert Sochacki, also of Northville, said he doesn’t relish the thought of paying additional taxes, but said the time was right to support the sinking fund proposal.

“Right now times are hard,” he said. “But this is one way that we can maintain what we have here."

The cost to residents, according to the district, would be $200 a year on a home that has a taxable value of $200,000.

Funding repairs

The State of Michigan allows governments to create sinking funds – after a vote – to make physical repairs to structures and a handful of other capital improvements. The money cannot be used to pay salaries or for non-improvement programs.

Northville Schools officials decided to put the question on the ballot to help defray a big fund deficit, which is the result of pullbacks in state per-pupil funding and rising costs in areas like health care and pension contributions.

With the passage of the sinking fund, the district's general fund would no longer be used to make building repairs.

Among the repairs the district will make include asphalt resurfacing at the high school, and at Amerman Elementary; sidewalk and drainage repairs at Amerman; several air conditioning, ventilation and mechanical repairs at Amerman, Moraine, Silver Springs, and Thornton Ridge; and network infrastructure and wireless upgrades at all K-12 facilities.       

A light turnout

Dianne Massa, the Northville City Clerk, said turnout was somewhat less than she expected until the final hour of voting, especially considering there was a tax hike on the ballot.

“It’s been pretty light all day,” she said. “I would have thought it would have been higher than this, not like in a presidential election, but higher.”

Official numbers will be available at the various clerk’s offices during the next several days.

Over at the school district offices – where members of the community, school staff and administration and school board members were gathered – there was a sense of jubilation as the results poured in.

Superintendent Leonard Rezmierski said that the turnout was "not as high as we had hoped for." Still, he said he was pleased to see that voters stand behind the high quality of their schools.

"We're pleased with what the community has given us their support on," he said. "This is a major first step on a long road to maintain the facilities we've already built."

He added, "We'll now go after those first highest priority items this summer and we will slowly but surely, over the next five years, all the needs that the voters have given us support to go after and take care of."

Local editor Nancy Kelsey contributed to this report.