Beaver Island Michigan

OK . . . it's important to consider the timing of receipts and expenditures, not just the magnitude of receipts and expenditures. More specifically, one must consider that tax revenues are received in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year where as expenditures occur throughout the year. As a result,...

Rich . . . Don't put that pencil away too soon. Your report requires more painstaking work and more thorough consultation with interested parties. The report contains numerous errors . . . some are inconsequential while others are substantial. For instance . . . On page 2 of 7 - tax revenues of of $...

Hey, Rich . . . Sharpen your pencil . . . get back to work on the numbers . . . I found a GLARING ERROR in my initial review of your materials. On page #7, you show a modest decrease in tax levies for Peaine property owners. The entire decrease may, however, be attributed to a 1.1 mill decrease in l...

Ken . . .

Please be advised that the Bylaws were amended in 2017 and the Authority's annual meeting is now held in April of each (which coincides with its fiscal year.)

Best wishes . . .

Richie . . . 1. You have the quote backwards. 2. Board compensation is a fraction of the general fund expenditures. 3. I have the experience and, perhaps I do know the answers. Township consolidation will not provide significant benefits and the benefits will not be shared equally. Property taxes wi...

OK, Rich . . . You make unsupported claims about cost savings, then decline to answer questions. Roughly 70% of taxes collected by the townships support consolidated activities and any savings from consolidation will have to come from the general funds. I simply do not see the potential for signific...

Rich . . .

You did not initially attribute the sewer comment to me. Now that you have, I can deny having made that comment or any similar comments. (Look at my posts, look at the website https://wkohls.wixsite.com/consolidationinfo If this was an effective argument, I would use it.)

With respect to your remaining comments, please refer to my post on January 22, 2018. (Emphasis added.)

Itâ??s been 12 days since John and Angel posted notice that township consolidation will appear on the May 8th ballot and it has been months since they circulated their petitions. A following thoughts seem evident . . .
1. If we were staring with a â??clean sheet of paper,â?￾ itâ??s unlikely that anyone would design our current structure comprised of two townships and, at least to my knowledge, no one believes that two townships are theoretically superior to one township.
2. The question before the voters, however, is much more complicated. Concisely stated, the questions is . . . do the net tangible benefits of consolidation justify the consequential expenditures that will be required to complete the consolidation?
3. Any savings will have to come from the townshipsâ?? general funds.
a. Most township services (including the transfer station, airport, emergency services, health center) are already consolidated.
b. The townshipsâ?? road funds are basically a pass-thru account and, accordingly, there are no savings to be realized by consolidation.
4. This is far too important to ask the Islandâ??s voters to base their decision(s) on the unsupported claims, idle speculation and conjecture on the Forum.
5. Having started this process, it is incumbent upon John and Angel to provide reliable information (other than the technical provisions of the law.)
6. The failure to provide such information creates an informational void and more responsible parties would have prepared this information before circulating petitions.
7. Township voters would not accept this from elected officials and they should not accept it from unelected petitioners.
8. At a minimum, the information to be prepared by the petitioners should include . . .
a. A list of the tangible benefits (and disadvantages) to be achieved by consolidation.
b. An itemized list of the estimated costs necessary to implement consolidation.
c. Pro forma financial statements with explanatory notes that show changes in revenues and expenses resulting from consolidation.

We . . . the Committee to Save Peaine . . . take this seriously. We are trying to provide relevant information and carefully considered opinions that many voters appreciate . . . we are periodically updating our website https://wkohls.wixsite.com/consolidationinfo . . . Jack Gallagher and I have demonstrated that consolidation results in a transfer of financial resources from Peaine taxpayers to St. James taxpayers.

Oh . . . perhaps the most important question . . . how much did it cost to get this on the ballot? And, who paid for it?

The Petitioners have promised a discussion . . . thus far, itâ??s a monologue!

Reality check, please . . . View the trash-talking posts under the name EC (on this thread as well as other threads.) No serious content; little more than a series of taunts and half-witted accusations of fake news, fake committees, etc. Clearly intended to bury other posts and mysteriously edited t...

EC . . .

You may believe that it's "cute" to refer to a fictional "The Committee to Save St. James and Peaine Townships by Saving Beaver Island" but I'm guessing that the people responsible for enforcing Michigan's campaign disclosure laws will not be amused. Let's not find out.

Let me be sure that I understand this correctly. You're calling for the identities of anyone associated with the committee while hiding behind the initials "EC" on this Forum? (WOW!) But, I surmise that it would now be much too embarrassing to reveal your identity. Best wishes for a GREAT ...

EC/Ed/RG

The so-called "fake" committee has properly filed a Statement of Organization with the Charlevoix County clerk pursuant to the State's applicable election laws. (No need for you to apologize.)

Perhaps you can explain to me why the Petitioners have not filed?

Many of you will receive this letter in the mail sometime in the coming days . . . https://wkohls.wixsite.com/consolidatio ... nstituents

You may address your questions, if any, to nobitownship@gmail.com.

Respectfully submitted by the Committee to Save Peaine

On January 10, 2018, the Petitioners informed readers of this Forum that township consolidation would appear on the May 8th ballot. In the following 72 days, no one has articulated a coherent case for consolidation, nor have they identified any tangible benefits or cited any supporting facts. Kudos ...

Kudos to Ron Wojan and the PABI board!