Merry Christmass 2025! Your county Commissioners continue to benefit you the taxpayers by contracting to builsamedayd 4 new public safety towers[ fire.police and ambulance] and 1 upgrade tower for 12.85 million dollars with no new taxes and no debt.. Also $700,000.oo for new encrypted radios for the Sheriff and $35,000 for encrypted radios for the ambulances. Also no new taxes and no debt.
Our two new ambulance substations in Pinckney and Cohoctah are progressing, again no new taxes and no debt. { faster response times} We are saving about $115,000 by contracting with a different CPA auditing firm and we used opioid settlement money to buy new haz mat equip for the deputies and two new drug sniffing dogs for public safety, Last meeting we finalized a 2026 balanced budget after 6 months work.
We spend less than we take in, we urge and search for discounts not decreasing effectiveness of the job and we save for a rainy day. We are 80% pension funded, a high water mark achieved by very few counties, We are a very safe and healthy county and one of 49 counties nationwide with a triple a bond rating [ higher than even the USA!]
The BOC boosted our target cola for non union staff from 2.5 to 3% for all of 2026 The budget bans county procurements that are not bid and grants that cost more than the grant SHALL be discontinued. Elections in 2026 were advance funded and we hope to retire the jail expansion bonds earlier than 2029 to not pay the debt the interest..
We continue to offer LETS bus rides anywhere in LivCo for $2.00 a ride, a price we have defended since the 1970″s Our Sheriif continues to count illegal aliens . For the fourth straight year we won the “Best Place to Work” contest, we remain the lowest tax milage rate of all 83 Michigan Counties and we have the lowest unemployment rate. We are a Constitutional County and a 2A County.
God Bless the USA
Jay R Drick Chair
