Orion Township Clerk Penny Shults discussed the Aug. 7 police and fire millages with Interim Fire Chief Bob Smith and Orion Substation Commander Lt. Dan Toth in a roundtable on ONTV.

The Aug. 7 ballot will includes two millage proposals relevant to police and fire in Orion Township.

Orion Fire fund millage: The fire millage asks voters to approve .9916 mills for four years beginning in December. In the primary ballot language it states "a property with taxable value of $50,000 would be taxed $49.58 for the millage."

Orion Township Police fund millage: As opposed to approving language to levy 3 mills for a period of four years with one ballot question, the Orion Township Board of Trustees approved ballot language for the primary which asks voters to vote twice. One item will ask voters to renew the current millage, 1.9832, for the next four years beginning in December, while another item will attempt to levy an additional millage of 1.0168 mills to be imposed at the same time.

Lt. Daniel Toth of the Orion Township Substation said in order to keep current staffing levels - at 25 deputies - voters need to approve both the renewal and the additional. If only the renewal is approved, then substation staffing will be cut by six deputies.