SN 6-4-2022

Page 6/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 4, 2022

Taxpayers in

Caledonia getting

a break this year

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Caledonia Township tax-

payers will be getting a

break on their property taxes

this year.

On a 4-2 vote Wednesday

night, the township board

approved a measure to use

its general fund reserves to

pay the annual bond pay-

ment for the Kent District

Library Caledonia branch,

instead of using a specified

voted millage for the bond to

make that payment.

The township will make

the $165,653 payment from

its fund balance, and won’t

levy the 0.1868 mill tax that

has previously been used to

make the annual bond pay-

ment. The expected annual

savings for the average

homeowner will be relative-

ly small – about $26 for a

home with a taxable value of

$140,000, Township

Treasurer/Administrator

Richard Robertson said.

Township voters in May

2009 overwhelmingly

approved a $2.825 million

bond issue for construction

of the library that was to be

paid off over 21 years. The

township levied 0.

mills over the first year of

the bond issue. The bond

was refinanced in 2019,

Robertson said.

“The way that millage is

set up, unlike many millages

that we might be familiar

with, is that the actual mill-

age that goes on the tax bill is

the amount that’s required to

make the bond payment ...

Each year about this time, we

take the bond payment that is

due ... and divide it by the

taxable value of the entire

township,” Robertson said.

Trustee Greg Zoller cam-

paigned for the move in light

of the township board’s

approval last month of mid-

year pay increases for town-

ship employees.

“We were brought the last

two years mid-year pay

increases for employees

because of inflation and put-

ting food on the table, and

we approved that,” Zoller

said. “I know there’s virtual-

ly no taxpayer that gets mid-

year pay raises, let alone the

percentages that we’ve

given. I thought this would

be a little token to help the

other people that are strug-

gling.”

Zoller was joined in sup-

port by Supervisor Bryan

Harrison, Clerk Joni Henry

and Trustee Richard

Snoeyink. Robertson and

Trustee Tim Bradshaw

voted no. Robertson said he

had no problem with the

intent of Zoller’s motion, but

questioned whether there’s a

better way to spend down

general fund reserves.

“At the risk of sounding

too much like a Democrat,

my concern is that the big-

gest benefit of this goes to

the people who need it the

least,” Robertson said.

“Hence, the biggest benefac-

tors of this would be

Foremost [Insurance],

Consumers Power, Viking.

They are saving thousands

and thousands of dollars on

their tax bill, while the aver-

age citizen in the township

might only be saving $20 or

$30 on their tax bill. I don’t

think it’s targeted enough.”

Robertson suggested

committing $165,000 in

reserves toward road repairs

and maintenance. He also

suggested simply hanging

on to those reserves in

advance of expected proj-

ects coming up next year.

Fitzgerald memorial sculpture to be

installed in downtown Middleville

James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
A sculpture honoring the
memory of a popular local
volunteer will soon grace
the Thornapple Trail in
downtown Middleville’s
East Bank Riverfront Park.
The village council grant
permission on a 6-0 voice
vote May 24 for the Janis
Fitzgerald Tree of Life
Sculpture to be installed at
no cost to the village. The
council authorized the vil-
lage manager and clerk to
sign a maintenance lease
and installation agreement
for the sculpture to be
placed on village property.
The proposal came from
a memorial committee led
by local residents Robin
Walters and Kim Jachim.
Walters is a member of the
Thornapple Area
Enrichment Foundation
board and Jachim is presi-
dent of the Downtown
Development Authority
board.
The Tree of Life art piece
was sculpted by local artist
Ruth Gee. Jachim said it
will be delivered from a
foundry to the committee’s
shop in mid-June and
should be installed on a
Friday night in late June or
early July. Gee said in an
email reply for this story

that it was sculpted out of

weather-resistant corten

steel. It is 6-feet tall and

6-feet wide with a granite

base placed on a cement

foundation.

All of the project’s

$5,700 cost, including

installation, is being cov-

ered through donations

raised by the committee,

according to a letter of

intent Jachim and Walter

sent to the Middleville

Village Council in May.

“The largest donation

came from the students

and families at Page

Elementary during the

Battle of the Books com-

petition this spring,” the

letter read. “They will

have a personal invest-

ment in the piece and feel

price when they see it for

all the years to come.”

The funds were held at

the Barry Community

Foundation to ensure over-

sight in how they were

raised and managed, Jachim

and Walters said.

Middleville-based

Advanced Stone and Tile

Fab Inc. is donating the

base the tree will sit on.

An obituary posted on

the Gores Funeral Service

page indicated Fitzergerald,

age 56, died Oct. 2, 2021,

from a fungal infection that

followed a 17-year bout

with cancer that weakened

her immune system. The

obituary said Fitzgerald’s

family moved to Middleville

in 2003 when Hastings

Mutual Insurance Company

hired her as its technical

support manager.

After she stepped down

from that position,

Fitzgerald began volunteer-

ing in the Thornapple

Kellogg Schools and with

Pet Tales Rescue. She

helped begin the Battle of

the Books reading program

at Page Elementary School,

Jenny McKeever

P.O. Box 100, Delton, MI 49046

(269) 623-5115 • bucklandinsurance.com

A tentative sketch of what the Janis Fitzgerald Tree

of Life Sculpture will look like after it is completed and

installed along the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail. Ruth

Gee is the artist. The sketch was drawn by Allegan-

based Fabricated Components & Assemblies Inc.

(Source: middlevillevillagemidocuments-on-demand.

com)

See SCULPTURE, page 8

Janis Fitzgerald