BERRIEN COUNTY — While it is just an idea at this time, leaders from Milton and Howard townships are considering the possibility of joining together to become one.

Residents could be voting on the merger in the 2020 election, if an exploratory committee finds that combining the two townships could be beneficial and at least 5 percent of residents from each township agree.

First, Milton Township supervisor Robert Benjamin and Howard Township Supervisor Craig Bradfield said they will form an exploratory committee to extensively study the impact of the potential merger. The committee will be tasked with studying the benefits and pitfalls of merging the two populations, which includes 6,702 people from Howard Township and about 3,878 from Milton Township.

Milton Township board members voted unanimously last week to form the committee. Howard Township officials were expected to vote to form the committee Tuesday night.

The exploratory committee will be made up of two Milton Township board members, two Milton Township residents, three board members from Howard Township, two residents from Howard Township and two county commissioners. Howard Township will have one more representative, because their board is comprised of seven members and Milton’s board is made up of only five members. Benjamin and Bradfield encouraged any residents who wish to join the committee to call their respective townships and express interest.

The aim is to have the committee formed within the next 60 days. Until the topic has been studied by the committee, Benjamin reminded residents that at this stage, the potential merger is just that: a possibility.

“This doesn’t mean that it is happening,” Benjamin said. “We really need to find out if there is true benefit to both townships, independently. If one [township supports it] and the other one doesn’t — there probably is not a benefit.”

Benjamin and Bradfield said the idea to become one township was majorly influenced by the opportunity to share resources and potentially cut costs.

For Milton Township residents, joining forces with Howard Township could allow for more continuous police coverage. At this time, a sheriff has one patrol a week in Milton Township and Benjamin would like to see more consistent coverage. But to hire more police coverage, Benjamin said the township would have to implement a millage to cover the cost.

“If we hired [a deputy] and they [Howard] hired one, we could cover more time across the two townships,” Benjamin said.

Uniting the townships is also a way of looking at the future of the area’s residents, the supervisors said. With the Michigan Department of Treasury proposing to consolidate property tax assessment administration, townships would have to have at least 5,000 parcels generating $12 million in property taxes to complete their own assessing, according to Benjamin. Combining townships would bring the parcel number close to these requirements. Howard Township has about 3,400 parcels and Milton Township has about 1,500 parcels.

“My personal opinion is that it is better for townships to have their own control over assessing,” Bradfield said. “If we lose that, either the county has to take that process over, which I don’t think they have the man power or funds to do. If the county can’t do it, it will go back to the state. I don’t think anybody in Howard or Milton townships would want the state coming down and doing their assessing.”

The assessing consolidation could go into effect in January 2019, though it would take five years to phase in, according to Benjamin.

At this time, Bradfield and Benjamin said they could not identify many downsides to becoming one township, but they said this is where the committee’s work will be beneficial. The committee is expected to study potential cons in the merger, as well as analyze how combining resources, a budget and building and staff will impact residents.

Residential feedback will be crucial to assessing whether or not the merger could work, Benjamin said. At least two public hearings are expected throughout the process to garner local opinions.

Benjamin and Bradfield encouraged residents to share their feedback and contact them. For contact information visit howardtwp.org or miltontwp.org.

“We want to know what the public wants,” Benjamin said. “This is part of that. Nothing can happen without the voters. We want to have a lot of time. We don’t want to have this rushed.”