Commissioners Set to Vote on $15.5 Million LifeWays Building Bond

The board will discuss issuing the bond at its Tuesday meeting.

Hillsdale County—According to the meeting agenda, the Hillsdale County Board of Commissioners is set to make its final determination at its 13 May meeting about issuing a $15.5 million building bond on behalf of the mental health servicer, LifeWays.

At its 22 April meeting, the board voted 3-2 over heavy public opposition to send the proposal to Bond Counsel for advice on how the building bond might be structured.

District 5 Commissioner Brent Leininger, who voted to request the guidance of Bond Counsel, will present the resolution to the board. At the 22 April meeting, Leininger said it would be a “concern” for him if Hillsdale County were liable for the bond payments.

District 2 Commissioner Kevin Collins, who also voted in favor of consulting Bond Counsel, said that his support for that motion was a matter of fact-finding.

“I would like it sent to legal counsel, just so we know if the county’s liable,” Collins told the board. He also emphasized that requesting legal advice would not cost the county itself.

The following week, Bond Counsel advised that Hillsdale County would be on the hook for the repayment of the bond if LifeWays were to default.

Exhibit A, attached below the resolution, confirms the county’s liability:

The County will be obligated, as a first budget obligation, to advance moneys from its general funds or to levy ad valorem taxes on all taxable property within its corporate boundaries to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds as the same shall become due to the extent that other funds are not available for such purpose.

If LifeWays cannot pay the principal or the interest on the bond, then the county would have to either raise taxes or spend from the existing general fund revenues.

Current county dollars are stretched thin and unable to cover basic obligations, like park maintenance.

The resolution declares the county’s “official intent to issue its limited tax general obligation bond” to LifeWays in an amount “not to exceed $15,500,000 to finance all or part of the cost of the Project.”

The general obligation bond will not come before Hillsdale County’s voters for final approval unless citizens petition for a referendum.

The bonds will be issued, without submitting such a question to a vote of the electors, unless within 45 days after the date of publication of this notice a petition requesting a referendum upon such question, signed by not less than 10% or 15,000 of the registered electors residing within the County, whichever is the lesser, shall have been filed with the undersigned County Clerk.

To place the bond approval on the ballot, citizens would need to collect signatures from 10% of the county’s 32,372 active registered voters, according to data from the 2024 general election results.

The petition for a bond referendum, then, would require about 3,200 signatures in just 45 days. If the question made it on the ballot, then voters could pass it with a simple majority vote.

According to prior statements, LifeWays is pursuing the county’s full faith and credit in order to save money on interest as it repays the bond, though the later discovery that the county would be liable for repayments suggest that the organization may be trying to secure a government-backed loan as the federal government cuts funding for nongovernmental organizations.

The proposed office building at Beck and Industrial would cover 28,000 square feet and include a “Crisis Stabilization Unit” and an “Integrated Health Clinic.” These services will allow LifeWays to become a “Certified Community Health Clinic.”

Jacob Bruns

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