Sylvan Township resident Janis L. Carr paid the $10 Thursday morning, Aug. 16, and officially requested a recount of the millage results for the Aug. 7 primary election.
Residents approved by seven votes, a 20-year, 4.4 mil millage to pay for sewer and water debts, 480 votes to 473 votes.
Here’s what was approved: It read: “Shall the limitation upon the total amount of general ad valorem taxes imposed upon real and tangible personal property for all purposes in any one year under the Michigan Constitution be increased in the Township of Sylvan, Washtenaw County, Michigan, by 4.40 mills (which is equal to $4.40 per $1,000 of taxable value of all such property) for a period of twenty (20) years, 2013 through 2032, inclusive, for the purpose of paying the Township’s $9,775,000.00 obligation to Washtenaw County and $1,213,000.00 to the Washtenaw County Treasurer? The amount of revenue the Township will collect if that millage is approved and levied by the Township in the first year is estimated to be $780,263.90. The proposed millage is a new additional millage, the revenue from which would be disbursed to the County of Washtenaw.”
And, the county’s Board of Canvassers certified the Washtenaw County election results on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
Ed Golembiewski, director of county elections, said Thursday afternoon that a recount for the Sylvan millage vote had been requested and paid for — a recount costs $10 per precinct.
The recount will not take place until the State Board of Canvassers certifies the state-wide vote. He said this is expected to take place by Aug. 27.
State-wide candidates then have 48 hours to file petitions to the state for a recount, and once the 48 hours has lapsed, the state will let the county know that it can go-ahead and schedule the local recounts.
Once an election is certified by the county, there is a six-day window to pay for and file for a recount. That deadline is Monday, Aug. 20.
A date and time for the recount will be posted on the county’s Website and Golembiewski said that the township clerk must then bring the sealed ballot boxes to the county offices for the recount.
It will be conducted by independent volunteers, in other words, people not from the township, and will be overseen by the County Board of Canvassers.
A recount takes between a half-hour and an hour per precinct, Golembiewski said. In Sylvan’s case, there is just one voting precinct.
Here’s the complete Recount Process – County Board of Canvassers.
