ROGERS CITY – Presque Isle County voters will decide in November whether to support their county’s recycling program by approving a millage.

County commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday to place on the ballot a question asking voters to approve levying up to one-tenth of a mill on all property in the county. The four-year millage would raise an estimated $65,351.26 in 2014. It would go toward operating, maintaining and improving the county’s recycling program, which commissioners said is too expensive to pay for from the county’s general fund.

Commissioner Mike Darga, who heads the county’s resource recovery committee, said the millage would allow the county to refurbish its recycling collection bins, and add a few new dropoff locations. It also could pay for a hazardous waste pickup, and help fund the Presque Isle County Soil Conservation District’s tire pickup.

The county currently pays Emmet County Recycling to take recyclables dropped off at a handful of locations across the county, and pays Republic Services to haul the material, Darga said. Some county residents are recycling, but Presque Isle is one of the few remaining counties in the state that doesn’t charge for the service.

“At this point, the county can’t afford to take it out of the general fund every year, the $30,000 or $40,000 for recycling,” he said. “That’s why we need the millage.”

While Emmet County Recycling gives the county some money for metals and fibers like paper and cardboard, it’s not enough to pay for the program, Darga said.

If approved, the new millage would cost the owner of a home with $100,000 in taxable value up to $10 each year, Darga said. He believes that’s a low cost per household, and expanding the program to include a hazardous waste pickup could save people money. It’s also possible county residents could save on trash pickup by recycling more materials.

Darga said he and a few other commissioners will work to organize a few meetings to tell voters what they’ll get for their money if they approve the millage.

County voters rejected a similar millage in 2012 by nearly 900 votes.

In other business, commissioners heard an update from Tim McGuire of the Michigan Association of Counties. He told the board the county is likely to receive much the revenue sharing funds it used to receive from the state, Darga said. It won’t be as much as the county received before, but it could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

If the state legislature approves such revenue sharing plans, Presque Isle County wouldn’t be seeing the full amount until 2016, Darga said. The county still has some money in its revenue sharing reserve fund.

Jordan Travis can be reached via email at jtravis@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jt_alpenanews. Read his blog, A Snowball’s Chance, at www.thealpenanews.com.