Local jurisdictions are seeking to convince the Allegan County Road Commission to return to a policy of sharing costs for large culverts.
Otsego Township board members passed a resolution to that effect at their Monday, July 10, regular meeting.
Supervisor Bryan Winn said they’d received a petition, begun in Hopkins Township, and he asked the board to support it.
“We want them to pay half the cost, the way it used to be,” Winn said.
Costs for culverts larger than 36 inches used to be split between the road commission and the local jurisdiction, he said, but the road commission stopped that when budget cuts were necessary. Now that the road commissions receive more funding through changes to the state tax system, Winn said the locals were seeking a return to that practice.
“They don’t have to do anything,” he said. “The townships who do adopt it, they’re saying to the road commission: ‘We are together on this.’”
Gun Plain Township board members passed the measure, which was begun by Hopkins Township supervisor Mark Evans, at their Thursday, July 3, regular meeting.
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