Baroda Twp. voters to decide on new fire station on August ballot

BARODA TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- With just a week away from Michigan’s primary elections, Baroda Township neighbors are set to vote on a proposal to fund a brand new fire station there.

Voters will decide a 30-year, 1.56 mill bond to fund a new $2.8 million fire station and firefighters say it’s not just needed for good looks.

“We currently don’t have enough room at our station right now for all of our apparatus or the safety equipment that’s essential to have a good running fire station,” said Griffin Ott with the Baroda Township Fire Department.

Baroda firefighters are looking for the township’s help to make room for equipment and more space for both the men and women on their team.

“In a new station we’re going to have exhaust systems, we need to not be breathing in the exhaust fumes from the trucks and the equipment that runs. We’re also going to have separate bathroom and bathing facilities so we have decontaminate when we come back from calls,” said Ott.

Ott says they’re also looking to add space for their additional fire trucks being held at other stations and that the vote is especially crucial when the large trucks don’t easily fit out front to be cleaned after those emergency calls.

“Our current station is over 65 years old and it is not adequately built for today’s needs of firetrucks. They keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Ott.

If you own a home in Baroda Township it breaks down like this:

You’ll pay roughly $1.50 in taxes for every $1,000 that your home is worth. So if your home is worth $50,000, about $75 per year will come out of your pocket.