Annual Township Meeting coming up...

The annual Elk Township Meeting will be held on March 26th, Saturday, at 10:00 am with a special meeting held immediately following. The supposed purpose of this special meeting would be an open forum of which citizens have requested:

• At that meeting, present three separate building plans
• Include approximate costs of each plan
• Citizens present at the special meeting would then vote on which plan they would like to see the township build.

It remains a fact, however, that a standing township board is not bound by a citizen's vote in a town hall meeting. The board would be bound by a vote during a regular election such as the board allowed in November of 2008. At that time, the citizens were able to vote on borrowing the sum not to exceed $200,000 and use current funds of $125,000 to add on to the current township hall. This vote went down in defeat. A letter from the auditor after the 2008 audit showed the township having "an unreserved fund balance of $251,797," and the auditor recommended that the township could use $125,000 of the fund balance with a years worth of operating capital remaining. The current township officials would like to use $155,584 of tax payers monies to add on to the current township hall even though we only have "an unreserved fund balance of $281,178,"according to the audit for 2010. This means we would have less than a years worth of operating capital, and the money would be gone for good. Over the past two years, according to existing audit records, we have accumulated $29,381, or $14,690 per year. This is taxpayers' monies which should allow for taxpayers to have a say in where is goes. However, according to our representative form of government, any elected official acting on your behalf may spend such balance of money as they deem fit. Your only say-so is at meetings where motions are being made and seconded and passed, or at the voting booth. I encourage every citizen to make their voices heard at the annual township meeting this Saturday at 10am.