NILES — Niles Charter Township is better prepared for the new decade’s start thanks to action taken at Monday evening’s board of trustees meeting at the township hall, 320 Bell Road.

Trustee Richard Cooper was the sole “no” vote on approving $1.87 million in appropriations for the 2020 fiscal year budget, up $167,487 from 2019.

A portion of that increase came from the highway repair and maintenance department, which at a Dec. 2 public hearing on the 2020 budget, sparked a conversation among trustees on the increased responsibilities for road funding they said townships across the state have gained in recent years.

While Michigan townships do not own roads, Niles Township has found itself spending money on roads projects to keep infrastructure in shape and residents happy, said treasurer Jim Ringler.

Clerk Terry Eull estimated that $1 million was spent on roads projects over the past four years. Cooper made an upward motion with his hand, indicating more was spent.

The Berrien County Road Commission works with townships to fund roads not owned by the state. It will often split the cost of a project with townships, but it will not do so when it comes to subdivision roads, which many of Niles Township’s residents live on.

The Berrien County Road Commission receives much of its funding from the state, which in turn receives significant road funding from the federal
government.

State Rep. Brad Paquette heard these points from trustees Monday evening after he gave a briefing to them on work in Michigan’s legislature. Included in his speech was the standstill in passing road funding legislation.

“From the state standpoint, it’s like, ‘Do we just fund more? Do we just throw more money at the system?’” he said.

Paquette asked the board multiple times for input on ways to fund road projects at the state or local levels, but the only answer was given by Ringler: increase revenue sharing with municipalities or the township.

“The people at the state have got to know that we’re funding road improvements out of our general fund budget that is keeping us from doing things that we need to do in Niles Charter Township that we’re responsible for,” Eull said.

Despite a back-and-forth of road funding questions, Paquette and the board both agreed that funding was made difficult by many taxpayers’ unwillingness to pay more for
improvements.

The following agenda items were also approved Monday:

• Compensation increases for all board of trustee members. Cooper was the sole “no” vote.

The increase came from a recommendation by an independent compensation committee that believed the increase better reflected the amount of work trustees put in.

Supervisor Jim Stover, clerk Eull and treasurer Ringler will have their pay increased from $25,000 to $26,250. Trustees Cooper, Chris Vella, Herschel Hoese and Dan Pulaski will see their pay increase from $6,000 to $6,300.

• Office renovations less than $10,000. The vote was unanimous.

Niles Township recently moved its department of public works office from one building to the township hall a few dozen feet away.

An as-of-yet-undetermined contractor will take out a non-bearing wall and a small closet to create better work flow and visibility within the office.

• Dual-band receiver pagers for the fire department for $15,310 from Tele-Rad in Benton Harbor. Fire Chief Gary Brovold said a Berrien County deal gave his department the chance to purchase new pagers for half their usual cost.

The pagers feature both an 880 megahertz system and a VHF system, which Brovold said would suit the department well as the county transitions to the
former.

The purchase of new pagers, he said, was bound to be needed in the next few years.