As I walk door to door these days the most interesting thing that I have discovered is that almost nobody knows what a County Commissioner does. That is not surprising because it is sort of a stealth position that fly’s below the radar.

To me, the most important thing that a County Commissioner does is spend our money. Lots of it. The annual budget is almost $900,000,000.

Here is what that means to everyone that lives in Novi and Northville. When you add up the 3.1687 mills for the Oakland County voted, the .20030 mills for general, the 1.5844 mills for Oakland Community College and the 4.19 mills for Oakland County Operating you come up with 9.14313 mills per $1,000 of taxable value on your home.

So if the taxable value of your Novi or Northville home is $150,000 you give the County $1,371.46 a year. That is a lot of money. Especially if no one tells you where the money is going.

It is very important that a fiscally responsible person represents you at the County. As Novi Mayor and Novi Councilmember I enjoyed a record of fiscal responsibility.

The Detroit Free Press in their July 17, 2008 endorsement of me for county commissioner said, “Csordas has a broader perspective of the issues. The commission would benefit from his experience in managing fiscal issues at the local level and his private sector work on insurance and employee benefit issues”.

Spending your money is a heavy burden. I have always taken it seriously and I will do the same as your county commissioner.

Lou Csordas
Former Novi Mayor