It’s not every day you hear about people taxing themselves for something they don’t own. But then maybe you'd never driven Acme Township’s Holiday Hills subdivision – experiencing what some residents described as “third world” road conditions.

This week, residents are driving on 2.7 miles of brand new roads, thanks to a SAD, or special assessment district. The new roads include Greenwood, Maplewood, Basswood, Baywood, Deerwood, Hardwood, Paper Birch, Timberwood (North, East & West), five properties on Cedarwood and the public portion of Audubon.

Grand Traverse County has some 1,200 miles of road, with less than 20 percent considered fair to good condition. Even though county voters approved a three-year road millage in November 2013 – as a way to address the bleak state funding situation – primary and secondary roads come first when it comes to repair and reconstruction, leaving little left for subdivision or neighborhood roads.

Acme Township Trustee Gordie LaPointe heard the subdivision road complaints loud and clear, and looked to other Michigan townships to try to find a road funding solution for Holiday Hills residents. The answer was a SAD, initiated by the residents.

“Townships can do a SAD on their own, but the best way is a partnership between the township and the residents,” LaPointe says.

Resident John Jessup drove the project along with neighbor Rachel Roe.

“People can do this in a neighborhood…there is hope,” he says.

The first step in the process, though, was getting buy-in from residents – some who bristled at the idea of a special taxing district for county roads on top of the recently approved millage. But part of that buy-in was getting a clear message from the Grand Traverse County Road Commission that the funds simply were not there and weren’t going to be anytime soon.

While both the township and the county would contribute to the project, the lion’s share of the cost would need to be covered by the people driving those roads every day. The subdivision would need to show there was majority support, and then the township would get to work on approving a SAD.

With 75.5 percent in favor (the township required 75 percent to move forward), residents taxed themselves to pay for $1.38 million in public road improvements.

There are 197 parcels within the Holiday Hills SAD – each property owner is responsible for $5,254. While a handful of residents have already paid their share in one lump sum, the majority of residents are part of a bonding package that has them paying $438.57 annually for 15 years.

The township contributed $100,000 (it receives about $7,000 per year for road repairs). The county road commission’s policy calls for matching up to 25 percent of the cost of a special assessment district. Ultimately, the commission contributed $250,000 to the project – about 18 percent of the total cost.

There are a couple of critical factors that made this special assessment district easier to do even though the scope of it was much larger than what is typical, explains LaPointe. First, the denser the development, the better. In Holiday Hills, 99 percent of the lots are developed. Also, the lot sizes are all pretty much the same size.

Jessup says the SAD has also perked up real estate sales in the area. Where prices had been pretty stagnant and stories of buyers telling realtors to turn around once they saw the conditions of the roads, now there is good activity.

"Three houses have sold in the last three months," he adds.