Niles Township residents missed a golden opportunity to take control of their own roads during Tuesday’s special election.

By defeating the township’s road-fix proposal, voters placed the fate of the roads in the hands of a Berrien County Road Commission that is hamstrung by a lack of state funding.

Local roads in Niles Township and many other places across the state will continue to deteriorate until state legislators figure out a financial solution — a proposition many are skeptical will ever happen based on recent performance.

The local proposal would have given township leaders and residents the power to collect money for fixing their roads and their roads only. Not a cent would have gone outside the township’s borders.

It also would have given residents the ability to say how, where and when that money should be spent.

Those options went away when residents decided not to approve the up to $65 per parcel special assessment.

It is difficult to say exactly why people voted the way they did.

Some residents might have been reluctant to spend any more money after the passage of a $40 million bond issue for Niles Community Schools.

Others might not have trusted the township to spend the money the way citizens wanted it to be spent.

Some might have thought that the roads are fine the way they are, or that the state will come up with its own road fix plan soon.

All of these reasons are legitimate.

That being said, a “yes” vote Tuesday would have guaranteed a brighter future for the township’s roads.

Now it is difficult to see what the future holds.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.