VBT board approves $27.4 million general fund budget for 2026

After months of budget meetings, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees approved a general fund budget for 2026 with $27,416,739 in revenue and $27,285,720.28 in expenses, along with the amended 2025 general fund budget. The 2026 salary schedule also was approved.
This was at the board’s regular meeting on Oct. 21. Trustees Bryon Kelley and Kevin Martin were absent.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said there will be $158,000 surplus from this year’s budget to add to the current general fund balance of $8 million. Combined with the landfill fund balance, the total fund balance for the general fund is $23.9 million.
Supervisor McNamara said the township taxes are 7.272 total mills, made up of .8917 operations millage and 6.3803 mills for public safety.
The board also approved the $11.96 million Water and Sewer budget which includes a 6% increase in water rates and 4% in sewer rates as of Jan. 1. The Water and Sewer fund balance will be $37.8 million at the end of 2026. Department director Kevin Lawrence said there have been no rate increases for the past two years.
Proposed and amended budgets for the following special revenue funds also were approved:
• Downtown Development Authority;
• Belleville Area Museum;
• Local Development Finance Authority, $853,100;
• Federal Forfeiture Fund, $0;
• State Forfeiture Fund, $2,000;
• E-911 Service Fund, $136,500;
• Landfill Fund, $9,481,000;
• Long-Term Debt Fund, $775,000; and
• Capital Improvement Fund, $475,000.
Supervisor McNamara said the museum needs a $22,000 boiler.
In other business at the 47-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved adjusting the Cemetery Capital Outlay projected 2025 budget line item from $20,000 to $40,000 for survey work at Otis Cemetery with McNamara saying that was, “So we know who’s where.” The cost estimates for the project came in higher than expected;
• Approved a resolution covering five documents that move to MERS the Health Care Savings Program and Retiree Health Funding Vehicle. The board was told the change will allow self-guided access and management of employee accounts, along with extended beneficiary options, and options that will help navigate finding retirement plans that suit their unique needs upon retirement;
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with Wayne County for a 2025 Local Road Improvement grant, which includes $1.7 million from the county and $1.7 million from the township. Expenditures are expected to be $850,000 in 2025 and $850,000 in 2026. The project is the paving of Morton Taylor between Tyler and Ecorse roads and filling in the sidewalk gaps along the sides. The estimate for the Morton Taylor work is $3.7 million. If there is money left over, the township will do crack sealing and asphalt patching on Tyler Road between Belleville and Haggerty roads and ditching work on gravel roads in the township;
• Approved a resolution regarding speed limits on gravel roads in the township to test the legality of a newly passed Michigan law. The resolution asks for Wayne County to lower speed limits from 55 mph to 40 mph in 13 areas, including spans of Morton Taylor, Hull, Martinsville, Beck, Martz, Elwell, Riggs, Fret, Bak, Hoeft, Bog, and Lohr roads;
• Approved a sidewalk agreement with Van Buren Transfer Station, LLC for the Yost Road Transfer Station project. The transfer station will not be required to install sidewalks along its dead-end road until the township upgrades the road in the future;
• Approved adding Genisys Credit Union of Van Buren Township to the list of financial institutions approved for township investments. Others already approved are Comerica Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Multi-Bank Securities, Inc., CIBC Bank, and Michigan CLASS. The list was last approved in 2011;
• Heard a brief presentation by Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Stephanie Richards, who is community liaison for the sheriff’s department. She offered the department’s assistance as needed;
• Heard McNamara announce that Wayne County Commissioner Alan Wilson helped to get a newly announced $25,000 grant from the county for the Belleville Area Council for the Arts;
• Heard clerk Leon Wright announce the Nov. 4 election with the only thing on the ballot a proposal by the Van Buren Public Schools for a millage that will continue the current 30-year millage without additional cost. He said the township now has just two precinct locations, one at Wayne County Community College and one at the township hall. The location of a voter’s site is on the voter’s card that was sent out to the voter in the mail;
• Heard a resident of Crowley Road ask the township for an update on the drift racetrack being run as a business in their residential neighborhood. Ron Akers, municipal services director, said the township had a meeting with the attorney of the owners of the track two weeks earlier. A follow up is planned for Oct. 27 and then the township will consult with the prosecuting attorney. “Hopefully, we are moving forward,” director Akers said. McNamara said this racetrack in that residential neighborhood, “is not acceptable”;
• Heard resident Reg Ion say the flagpole at Van Buren Park has no rope and the flag is all tangled. He said he mentioned it to an employee there. He said the park’s monument also needs attention. He said he is not in favor of the school bond and there are a lot of bad things going on at the school. He said the buildings are in the best condition they have ever been, but although there are a lot of cameras, security is not good. He said they do not require clear backpacks for the students and there are no metal detectors or wands. Also, they can’t sing a song with “Christmas” in it; and
• Heard McNamara comment on truancy, which he said, “is not to be tolerated.” He said Van Buren Township sued and won over the right to handle truant students in the closer district court instead of at circuit court downtown that takes a long time. The local court, within two weeks, is assigning help and counselors for the students. He said often bullying, drugs, alcohol, and mental problems are involved. He said he did not wish to comment on the school or the bond proposal.
At the beginning of the meeting, McNamara said because of electrical problems over the weekend, the township board meeting was not being broadcast live, but is on YouTube.