ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Voters are heading to the polls one week from today. Escanaba Area Public Schools is asking them to support an operating millage proposal.
Ten years ago, voters approved a 15-year operating millage at a rate of 18 mills. Such millages are required by the State in order for a public school district to receive its full foundation allowance.
“Unfortunately, because property values have risen at a rate greater than the rate of inflation, we’re subject to what’s referred to as a Headlee rollback,” said Superintendent Dr. Coby Fletcher. “It means that we’re not allowed to levy the full 18 mills.”
According to Fletcher, that is costing the district roughly $180,000 a year.
“The State doesn’t make that up,” he said. “The only way for us to be able to return to the 18 mills that the voters originally approved is by asking the voters to approve what’s referred to as a Headlee override.”
That is where the ballot proposal comes in. It calls for an increase of 2.6061 mills through 2031, stating that the additional millage will be levied ” only to the extent necessary to restore” the reduction.
“The operating millage is only on non-homestead properties, so a primary residence and exempted agricultural property are not impacted by this,” Fletcher said. “It’s not going to raise costs there.”
If the proposal is not approved, the district would lose an estimated $1 million over the next six years.
“It would impact anything that’s funded out of General Fund,” said Fletcher. “That could be, for example, maintenance and upgrades to our buildings. It could be staff positions. It could be a new set of curriculum materials for students.”
Fletcher says one of the most common questions among voters is, “What about the lottery money the district receives?”
“Unfortunately, lottery money doesn’t have the effect that a lot of people think it does,” he explained. “When the State develops our budget, they say, ‘How much lottery money is there going to be?’ They add that in, and then they develop the budget from there. Lottery money doesn’t actually come to schools as a sort of bonus or on top of any of the funding that we already receive, so things like lottery money also don’t make up for the loss in revenue.”
With Election Day quickly approaching, Fletcher hopes that voters will educate themselves on how the results of the ballot proposal vote will impact students.
“At the end of the day, our voters approved 18 mills back in 2016,” he said. “We’re just simply asking to be able to levy the full 18 mills again and not have to worry about sacrificing some of the things that we would be doing if we had those funds in our General Fund to help us take care of business in the district.”
Stay tuned to WZMQ 19 News and wzmq19.com on Tuesday, November 3, for the results of this and other ballot measures.
