By Gretchen Millich, WKAR
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-857009.mp3
MASON, MI – Ingham County Commissioners have voted against putting a county-wide millage proposal on the ballot. The millage would have guaranteed funding for the sheriff's department for the next five years.
AUDIO: The millage would have offset cuts to the sheriff's department and provided funding for road patrols in rural townships that don't have their own police department.
Last night, the proposal was rejected by a vote of 10 to 6.
Commissioner Mark Grebner voted against it. He says its time for the townships to start paying for law enforcement services.
"They'll be cut and they'll be cut," Grebner says, "and then they'll be cut again, and eventually one by one we will whittle away the sheriff's department and eventually we'll get to the point where there's no primary law enforcement in rural areas and teh townships will have to pick up the cost, which they've refused to do until now."
Ingham County is facing a $5,500,000 budget deficit this year and next year.