Inside and outside of Oakland

Voters approve tax for Troy library; pick candidates for November

 Voters approved taxes in Troy Tuesday to keep the city library open, and tax proposals in other communities and school districts also passed. Voters in Rochester Hills and Southfield selected candidates in primaries to move on to the November general election, and a special general election settled a county commission race left over from last November.

  In Troy, a 0.7-mill property tax proposal for five years to save the Troy library was the big draw at the polls in elections in Oakland County.
  Voters approved the tax to support the library, an often contentious topic in the city, by a vote of  12,246 to 8,799.
  The city has said it would close the library if the tax to support if failed.
  Except in Troy, turnout was light in other areas of the county that were holding off-year elections.
  "The only place where we've seen a high number of absentee ballots and poll numbers is in the city of Troy for the library proposal," Oakland County Elections Director Joe Rozell said shortly before the polls closed.
  It was the third vote on a property tax to save the city library since the city decided it couldn't support the facility from its general fund.
  The tax was expected to raise $3.1 million for the library in the first year.

  In other elections around the county, there were city primaries in Rochester Hills and Southfield to pare the large number of candidates for the November general election. There was also a special general election for county commissioner in District 2, and ballot proposals for Royal Oak Township and Lamphere Schools.

ROCHESTER HILLS
 Incumbent Bryan K. Barnett faced three primary challengers in Erik Ambrozaitis, Paul Miller and Luke Wylie.
  Barnett and Ambrozaitis will appear on the November ballot in a runoff. Barnett led with 5,316 votes to 754 for Ambrozaitis. Miller had 527 votes and Wylie had 101.
  In city council District 2, voters narrowed the field from three candidates to two for November. On the ballot were Laurie Puscas, M. Jordan Kotubey and Adam Kochenderfer. Incumbent J. Martin Brennan did not seek re-election.
  Kochenderfer had 1,018 votes to 867 for Puscas. They will be opponents in November. Kotubey had 261 votes.
  For the city's at-large council seat, voters narrowed the field in November from six candidates to four. On the ballot was incumbent Michael Webber and challengers Mark Tisdel, Dee Hilbert, Kathleen Fitzgerald, Howard Elandt and Peter Adair.
  Tisdel had 3,552 votes to 3,125 votes for Webber, 1,860 votes for Hilbert and 1,804 votes for Fitzgerald. Not making the November ballot were Elandt with 733 votes and Adair with 383.

SOUTHFIELD
  Voters narrowed the list of candidates for November from 12 to eight for four city council seats.
  On the ballot were incumbents Myron Frasier, Linnie Taylor and Sidney Lantz. Challengers were Sunsaria Baldwin, Daniel Brightwell, Sylvia Jordan, Jeremy Moss, Ken Peterson, Steven Richter, Dwight Smith, Chris Terry and Bernadine Trout.
  Lantz was the top vote getter with 3,522 followed by Jordan with 3,279, Moss with 3,272, Frasier with 2,810, Taylor with 2,061, Peterson with 1,539, Brightwell with 1,111, and Terry with 1,101.
   Not moving on to the November ballot are Baldwin, who had 990 votes, Richter with 685, Trout with 600 and Smith with 501.

ROYAL OAK TOWNSHIP
   Voters easily approved a 4.5-mill property tax increase for general operations and capital purchases for 25 years by a 235-96 vote.
   They also renewed a $2.5-mill property tax for parks and recreation for 25 years by a 269-59 vote.

LAMPHERE SCHOOLS
  The district's 19.75-mill property tax levy for general operations for 10 years was renewed by a vote of 1,021-390.
  Voters also approved a 0.5-mill property tax for repairs to school district facilities for 11 years by a 971-447 vote.

COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 2
   In a footnote to the November 2010 election, voters in Holly, Rose, Springfield and Highland townships were asked to pick a county commissioner in a special general election to serve out a two-year county commission term.
  The contest pitted Republican Bob Hoffman of Highland against Mark Venie of Davisburg. Hoffman has been serving in the seat by appointment after Bill Bullard was appointed county clerk upon the election of then-Clerk Ruth Johnson as Secretary of State last November.
  Hoffman cruised to an easy victory over Venie in the heavily Republican district by a vote of 1,500 to 677.
  Hoffman will have to run again for re-election in 2012, 

 Election results are unofficial until they are certified by the Oakland County Board of Canvassers.

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