Rogers City area voters to decide on Headlee override; will select two board members
At the annual school election Monday, registered voters in the Rogers City Area Schools will be asked to decide on a Headlee override, restoring 18 mills approved two years ago. The last two school years the millage has been rolled back from 18 to 17.883 mills for the 2003-04 school year, while the expected rate for 2004-05 would be 17.55 if the measure is defeated.
Approval from voters would generate $34,600 of funding, which has eroded since 2002, and is much needed, according to school officials who are attempting to balance the budget. The rollback occurred because of Proposal A?s impact on the Headlee law when properties are sold and the assessed value is increased.
?WE ARE LOOKING at major reductions in our budget,? said Don Schaedig, chief financial officer. ?If we don?t get the override, it?s another $34,000 we?re looking at. It?s not going to be easy to do, because we?ve already made significant budget cutbacks, which we?ll be looking at when we do the budget hearing June 14.? The first year impact on non-homestead property owners, including apartment buildings, rental homes, vacation properties, some vacant land, and commercial/industrial property will be .45 of a mill, or 45 cents on every $1,000 of taxable value. Although the ballot language uses the word increase, it actually would be restoring millage from a decreased millage.
?It brings us back to the original voted amount of 18 mills, but yes, it is an increase to those property owners. They obviously will have to pay a few more dollars in tax, although…it?s not a fantastic increase.? Schaedig said the override is less than a mill so the district doesn?t have to ask for a renewal.
THE HEADLEE amendment to the Michigan Constitution, approved by voters in 1978, provides that if property tax revenues from existing property exceed inflation, the city, township, school district or other government has to reduce, or ?roll back,? the tax rate to keep revenues from exceeding the inflation rate. The reduced tax rate may
When voters go to the polls Monday between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., they?ll also elect two of the three candidates to the board of education. On the ballot will be incumbent president Patricia Pike, Armand Loiselle, and Allan Smolinski. The two candidates receiving the highest totals will be sworn into office at the first regular school board meeting in July. Their terms will be for four years. The only polling location is the Grambau Center on Huron Avenue in Rogers City.
The Bismarck Township Hall (formerly Hawks School) was used as a voting precinct in the past, but was consolidated with the Grambau Center before last year?s school election.