Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The Genoa Township Board of Trustees met Monday night to approve the budget for the coming year and some general cost-of-living adjustments.

The board approved the budget unanimously, as well as a resolution regarding wages and salaries for appointed officials. Another resolution regarding salaries for elected officials was approved, with Trustee Bill Reiber opposed.

The wage and salary amount for both appointed and elected officials for the coming fiscal year was calculated by making a 3% cost of living adjustment. The resolutions for increases for elected officials are done by state statute.

There was lengthy discussion during the meeting about how some funds and appropriations work - mostly related to questions from newer board members.

The budget has been presented and available for public review and questions – as well as board members - since December 1st.

A wage study was commissioned back in December, but the results are not yet in.

One resident spoke out against wages and benefits to say she felt they were “excessive”.

It was noted several employees did not get raises last year, and the entire Board of Trustees also did not receive any increase last year.

Manager Kelly VanMarter stated not that many years ago, a pretty comprehensive wage analysis and study was done thar determined employees were “grossly underpaid” as compared to competitors in other jurisdictions. As a result of that, she said the board for two-years-in-a-row made double digit increases to try and get the employees to just mid-point of where their pay should be. VanMarter said since then, she thinks they’ve tried to stay cognizant of the fact that if they don’t give cost of living increases, they may find themselves back in a position where the employee pay is far below the market, they could start leaving, and then they’ll have to do larger increases again. She added that she thinks it’s easier to budget to keep everyone at cost-of-living increases so they don’t end up in a situation where they are far behind the market and then have to try to fix it.

VanMarter later added employees do have a wonderful benefit package, and she thinks that’s why they’ve been able to retain people so long at the pay they are giving them.

Supervisor Kevin Spicher commented when they had positions open, they reached out to people employed in other townships and were told flat out they couldn’t take such a pay cut.

Spicher noted according to their current provider as of last year, almost all of their people are below mid-point. He acknowledged the benefits take them above but questioned “if you are a 34-year employee, wouldn’t you want to be above mid-point?” He further emphasized the importance of longevity and retaining good employees.

Any raises don’t take effect until April 1st. It was stated that a lot of time and effort goes into the process, and not everyone is guaranteed 3%. Department heads will do performance evaluations, which will then be used by an administrative committee and department heads to discuss if a merit-based raise is warranted.

As call to the public should not be a back and forth, VanMarter commented it can be a bit frustrating to not be able to respond to questions or remarks but again encouraged people to reach out. She said they have a great team and staff who love sitting down with people with questions, to help them understands things.

It was reminded by officials at the very end of the meeting that the township currently has among the lowest, if not the lowest, millage rate of all townships – and it has no extra millages for services like roads, police etc.

The budget can be viewed in the board meeting packet on the township website. That link is provided.