Township Corner

I want to extend a big thank you to the Richfield Township residents who voted for our trash-hauling replacement levy in May. We were able to keep the levy at 1.1 mills, even with the significant increase in the cost of the contract. The township will continue to provide excellent waste removal and recycling services. We are hoping to control future trash hauling contract costs with money from our Joint Economic Development District.

Our JEDD income and property tax revenue has been steadily increasing over the past few years. In 2020, it was approximately $10,000; in 2021-$40,000; 2022-$60,000 and 2023 estimated to be $90,000. The new Best Buy facility and other businesses in the Light Industrial-Office District have been generating funding to benefit the community.

The township administration and service building have a new generator, purchased with American Rescue Plan Act money, and it is already working. Shortly after installation, we experienced a power loss and it kicked on, allowing the team to perform their work.

In addition to providing consistent service, the generator gives us safety in times of crisis and disaster. The energy outage in March left hundreds of residents without electricity for almost four days. Neighbors reached out to each other to stay warm, preserve refrigerated food and recharge electronics. This prompted the trustees to consider initiating a policy to open the township building during extended power outages for residents to come in for a while, get warm (or cool) and recharge devices. ∞