WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Constantine village manager Mark Honeysett said he has applied for two grants from the Michigan Revitalization and Placemaking Program.
One grant would go toward construction of a new fire station.
The process had begun with hopes of building a new fire station, police station and training building, but costs of the project have been in the range of $4.8 million, with the village needing to contribute 50 percent, Honeysett said.
Instead, the village applied for grant funding for the fire station only, for $2.6 million, leaving $1.3 million in costs for the village.
Honeysett said if the village qualifies for the grant for the fire station, he would apply for a USDA Rural Development loan, the same lender financing a proposed village sewer plant, to cover the village’s amount.
If the village officials have their way, its residents will find themselves deep in debt. Millions for a new fire station, more than another million for a police and training station, more than $7 million for a new sewer plant that they couldn’t afford to maintain more than 20 years ago. Add to that 3 new appointed governing boards with their own fees and additional residential taxes for services currently covered by village taxes. Wake up people. You show up to protest or vote only when you think they’re coming for your guns, which they weren’t. But you sleep through millions of dollars of additional debt and less transparency and control by elected officials?