Jonesville’s city status awaits state approval

Home City News Jonesville’s city status awaits state approval

The village of Jonesville submitted its application to become a city to the state of Michigan in the fall of 2013.

If Jonesville’s request is approved, it will be responsible for running elections, obtaining an assessor, and running the cemetery.

Jonesville is currently part of the Fayette township, so residents pay taxes to both the village of Jonesville and Fayette township. Elections, property assessment, and the cemetery are organized through Fayette.

“There are two advantages,” charter commission chairman David Steel said, “One is that it streamlines government.”

Jonesville is already a full-service municipality, meaning it provides its residents with police, fire, streets, water, parks, and other services. Becoming a city would allow the residents rely solely Jonesville for all their needs.

“There’s also a tax savings,” Steel said. “Residents would no longer be obligated to pay the township a tax.”

While Jonesville would retain the 1 percent administrative tax residents currently pay to Fayette, the property taxes would be reduced — saving residents and businesses approximately $52,444 annually.

“We feel that those are important enough facts that we should move forward,” Village Council President Robert Snow said.

Snow said initially there will be extra costs from purchasing voting machines and paying an assessor, but the benefits outweigh the costs.

Jonesville’s journey to become a city began when its council approved the plan in February 2011. From there, a commission was formed to write the charter. Jonesville met the minimum 5 percent of voters in the village who signed the petition in favor of incorporation.

Afterwards, the charter was sent to the governor’s office for approval in October 2013, village manager Jeff Gray said.

Now the village is waiting for the proposed charter to be reviewed and sent back to them. After making any requested changes by the attorney general, the charter will go to the Jonesville people for a vote to pass the charter and elect new city council members.

“Based on where we are at right now, it wouldn’t happen until August or November,” Gray said.

Snow said residents have generally been supportive of the charter, and that nobody has voiced their feelings against it during meetings.

“The feedback we generally hear is that people like the way the village operates now,” Gray said. He said the charter allows for Jonesville to maintain its current operations as closely as possible.

Steel said the only negative response has been from Fayette township officials because Fayette would be losing revenue. The topic of becoming a city has been discussed for years, Steel said.

Snow said there was a recommendation when he was village manager in 1996 to pursue incorporation, but the topic was not discussed again until 2011.

“This time the recommendation was to move forward with becoming a city,” Snow said.

Jonesville is named for its founder, Benaiah Jones, who chose to settle in the area in 1828 because of the intersection of St. Joseph River and Chicago Road. Jones served in the Civil War at the age of 71, and died and was buried in the South.

The Fayette township was established in 1829. The Jonesville post office and tavern were the beginnings of Fayette.

As the oldest town in Hillsdale County, Jonesville held the county seat until 1843. The city of Hillsdale eventually became the county seat because the railroad from Adrian ended in Hillsdale.

Two historic buildings still stand in Jonesville: Grace Episcopal Church, the second church in Jonesville, and the Grosvenor House Museum, which was the home of Ebenezer Grosvenor. He established the first bank in the village and went on to become lieutenant governor and state treasurer.

The village currently has around 2,400 residents. In comparison, one-third of Michigan’s cities have fewer than 3,000 residents, which means Jonesville would not be an unusually small city, should its charter be approved.