An effort is underway to disincorporate the village of Baroda.
Signed petitions have been submitted to the village by a seeking to formally disincorporate and absorb the village into Baroda Township. Baroda Village President Michael Price tells us the council met with its attorney on Thursday to learn about what happens next, and that will be the formation of a disincorporation commission.
“It’s going to be three people from the township and then three people from the village, and then they come up with a plan on how this would go,” Price said. “So they’ll be sitting at meetings and working on that plan.”
So, what sorts of things will the commission have to determine?
“There’s a whole list. There’s about a million different things…Finances, roads, water, sewer. That’s what the whole commission will come up with, plans for all that.”
The petition cites lower taxes as the reason for the effort because should the village cease to exist, its millage would cease to exist. We asked Price for his opinion on the effort.
“I don’t know that I really have one. I’ve got a mixed feelings on it.”
Price estimates local opinion on the proposed disincorporation is “about 50/50.”
The Baroda Township Clerk will now be tasked with verifying the signatures submitted with the petition, and if they are deemed valid, Price says a vote of village residents will take place during the next regular or special election. Under the state law governing village disincorporation, two thirds of the voters would have to choose “yes.”
In the meantime, Price says he’s asking around for volunteers to serve on the disincorporation commission.
