The Village of Laurium might become the City of Laurium.
Laurium’s village council has begun considering raising the village’s status to a city in the state of Michigan. Village Manager Ian Lewis says Laurium has published a survey and will continue to discuss the benefits and new responsibilities throughout 2025.
And we started looking at, we have police, we have fire, we have public works, we have sanitation, and we contract out our water and our sewage. So to us, those are the big things that kind of differ between a village and a city. So I think in their (council) mind, it was, we can reduce the taxes of the residents by doing this switch initially. Which would be the 1.28 mills towards general operating to the township, and then the 98 or so to the Coliseum. And then we can request in the future possibly, millage rates to support more stuff that’s going on in Laurium, whether that be police, fire, parks, and recreation development. – Ian Lewis, Village Manager, Village of Laurium
Lewis says a main catalyst for Laurium comes down to capturing residential and commercial taxes to better fund the maintenance and development of services and amenities; Such as the George Gipp Ice Arena and surrounding area a focal point of community activity and improving the ability of firefighters and police to serve the community.
A lot of the questions I’ve seen so far in the additional comments portion relate to how it will impact Calumet Township and the surrounding communities. The council will definitely need to consider these questions.
However, I think it’s important to note that a lot of the things that people are concerned about are supported by outside sources such as the SwedeTown Trails. That’s a non-profit organization that runs those trails. Tax dollars aren’t going towards that right now, says Lewis.
Calumet Water Works is not being supported by the Village of Laurium tax dollars. That’s being supported by just Calumet Township. So the things that we’re looking at doing are essentially not going to impact Calumet Township. Sure, the Coliseum Tax would be impacted. However, the way it was originally intended, was to help both ice rinks in the community that support the entirety of the Calumet Hockey Association.
In 2020 census Houghton County was the only county to see population growth. Lewis says that the village saw similar benefits to other communities in Houghton County did with added residents. With new residents in the community Laurium’s taxable value also increased from 27 million dollars to 31 million dollars.
In just under two years, that has increased to about 31 million. So that has allowed for a $4 million increase of overall taxable value within Laurium, which has helped our general fund, and all our other millages. So it’s allowed us to kind of look into things and to make these improvements that I think our residents are seeing throughout the community now. – Ian Lewis, Village Manager, Village of Laurium
Those interested in taking the Laurium survey considering the designation of a city can find a link at Keweenaw report dot com. The survey will remain open until February 14th. The Village Council plans to continue discussion on becoming a city under old business during council meetings monthly. Anyone who wants to learn more or has questions should contact Village Manager Ian Lewis. Find more information below. The village council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 6 pm, inside the Laurium Village Hall Chambers. The Village Hall is located at 310 Hecla Street.
Village of Laurium – City Survey
