Bennington Township moves $4,000 from parks to keep SATA buses running

Bennington Township will take $4,000 out of its parks and recreation capital outlay line and spend it on bus service instead, keeping Shiawassee Area Transportation Agency rides going in the township until voters decide the question Nov. 3.

The transfer — from account 101-751-970.000 to SATA Transportation Service, 101-602-801-015 — was moved by Trustee Jim Forsythe and seconded by Trustee Larry Johnson at the board's Sept. 8 regular meeting at the Township Hall, according to the minutes signed by Clerk Donna Ash. All board members voted in favor. Earlier in the meeting, Forsythe asked for clarification of the additional payment the board had already approved to SATA for October and November to continue service until the November vote. The minutes do not state the size of that payment.

The Current reported in August that the board voted unanimously July 6 to put a two-year, 0.3333-mill transit funding proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot. That is the vote the stopgap money is meant to cover.

The board also set what township taxpayers will owe this year. Supervisor Cody Baker moved to approve the 2026 Tax Rate Request, form L-4029, as printed, with a levy of 0.8728 mills for township operating and 1.25 mills for fire. Johnson seconded and all members voted yes. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value, so a property with $50,000 in taxable value would owe roughly $106 in township operating and fire taxes at those rates.

Gravel roads got the meeting's only split vote. Baker reported that gravel has been applied but that the Shiawassee County Road Commission is asking for an additional application of mineral well brine at a cost of $1,300. Johnson moved to approve it, Trustee Maria Carlin seconded, and the roll call came back 4-1: Johnson, Forsythe, Carlin and Baker yes; Ash no. The minutes do not record a reason for Ash's vote and do not name the roads involved.

On the rezoning front, Ash reported that she attended the Shiawassee County Planning Commission meeting on the Hitchcock rezoning and that county zoning approved a rezoning to A-2. That bears on an open question from our coverage of the county board's Sept. 16 meeting, where the ordinance text and the minutes did not agree on whether the Bennington Township parcel had been rezoned A-2 or B-2. The township clerk's report says A-2. The Current has asked the county for the final ordinance language.

In other business, the board approved paying $46,658.12 in bills on a motion by Forsythe, seconded by Johnson, with all members in favor — down from the $147,004.33 approved Aug. 3. The board reappointed Johnson to the SATA board for a three-year term beginning October 2026, on a motion by Forsythe seconded by Carlin, all in favor. Forsythe reported that the township website has been updated with information on fire permits for SSESA. There was no public comment. The meeting ran 22 minutes, from 7 p.m. to 7:22 p.m.

What happens next: Bennington Township voters decide the 0.3333-mill SATA proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot, and the township's stopgap payments to SATA run through November. The Sept. 8 minutes do not list a date for the next regular board meeting. The Current reported this week that Ash said the township keeps no standing list for sending out agendas.