Zeeland voters renew millages for fire safety, road maintenance

– Zeeland Township voters approved two millage renewals for fire protection and road improvements in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 general election.

Both millages passed with over 60% of the vote, according to unofficial election results from the Ottawa County Clerk's Office. With all five precincts fully reporting, the road maintenance millage renewal passed with 4,063 yes votes to 2,477 no votes, while the fire department millage renewal passed 4,223 to 2,316.

The fire millage asked voters to approve 1 mill, or $1 per thousand dollars of taxable property valuation, for six years.

Since the last renewal, the fire millage has been reduced to 0.9667 mills because of the Headlee rollback rules.

Millage funds will be used for operation of the Zeeland Township Fire Department, including equipment and apparatus purchases.

The township's road millage ballot measure involves exactly the same numbers as the fire millage – a six-year renewal at 1 mill – but the purpose is for repair, construction and reconstruction of roads, bridges, and drainage structures.