Portion of park millage funds can be shared
Commission approves 20% of money available to local municipalities if measure renewed
The Gratiot County Board of Commissioners has approved a resolution that will allow local municipalities to share a portion of the county’s parks and recreation millage if it’s renewed by voters in the Aug. 4 primary election.
The 0.35-mill, eight-year levy generates an estimated $517,000 annually.
The millage was first approved by voters in 2004 and renewed in 2012.
However, the funds were used entirely to fund the county’s four parks — Reed County Park in North Star Township, Hubscher County Park in Sumner Township, Pompeii Park in Washington Township and Luneack Park near Alma.
But if the levy passes in August, 20 percent of the money will be made available for local cit
ies, villages and townships.
Those funds would be allotted in the form of grants that individual municipalities could apply for, according to County Commissioner Tim Lambrecht, who represents the board of the county’s parks and recreation commission.
“Any local unit of government in Gratiot County will be able to apply for the grants,” he said. “Even units that don’t have parks conceivably might apply for a grant because they wanted to create one,”
The parks and recreation commission will develop application guidelines and approve which projects receive funding, Lambrecht added.
“There are some good models out there as far as criteria and what the application would look like but the board will have to decide on the specifics in terms of how applications will be scored, whether the grant can fully fund a project or whether the applicant will have to provide some of their own or other grant funds or labor as their contribution,” he explained.
The County Board of Commissioners will provide oversight and have to approve grants seeking more than $10,000, Lambrecht noted.
“Over the eight years of the millage approximately $750,000 will be made available for (municipal) projects,” he said. “Leveraged with other funds and other grants, and some creative thinking, it can really make a difference.”
Talks have been going on for several months with municipal leaders about getting a share of
the millage. They believed it wasn’t fair that their taxpayers should have to pay to support both municipal and county parks.
They pointed out that funding for local city and village parks had to come out of their own budgets while their citizens were also paying the countywide millage.
“I’m really excited about the potential of the grant program to facilitate some great new projects,” Lambrecht said. “One thing that we know is that people don’t really pay any attention to whether a park or trail is in their city or village or even county. We are fortunate in that, with the expanded tax base due mainly to new wind projects, the millage is generating more money than eight years ago.”
In addition to parks and recreation, the ballot language will also include the development or improvement of hiking and biking trails.
During early discussions local leaders talked about having the Gratiot County Community Foundation award the grants to avoid any appearance of “favoritism,” Lambrecht said.
“In researching how others award grants, it makes more sense for the parks and recreation commission to do so,” he explained. “It keeps county funds within the budget with the appropriate oversight.”
Currently there are approximately 23 municipal parks in the county, 10 in Alma, six in St. Louis, four in Ithaca, and at least one each in Ashley, Breckenridge and Perrinton.
“Keeping (the millage) at up to 0.35-mills means a typical homeowner pays about 30 cents a week,” Lambrecht said. “Anyone who has been to the parks knows that’s a bargain.”