The Allegan County Board of Canvassers is closely examining results of the Wayland Union School District non-Homestead millage renewal request in the Aug. 4 primary election.
The unoffical results from the Allegan County Clerks’ office reported the request was narrowly defeated in Tuesday’s primary by a count of 2,103 to 2,057, a difference of only 46 votes. Townbroadcast reported the millage was defeated, but there have been reports on social media that independent checkers had the request passing by 10 votes.
Patricia Velie, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, noted that small portions of Barry and Kent counties are located in the school district.
Adding in the totals from the two neighboring counties would create an unofficial total of 2,338 yes votes and 2,328 no, a margin of just ten votes.
Therefore, it is perhaps best to regard the issue as unsettled or even the subject of a recount.
Laurie Zywiczynski, director of information for the district, said Thursday morning, “The canvassers in Allegan County are working now (they begin the day following the election) on certifying each municipality. After that happens, the results become official. The only numbers we have are what we are taking from the county websites, but they are unofficial at this time.”
The request was to renew an 18-mill tax levy on commercial and industrial properties and second and third homes. The levy is not applied to common residential property.
Wow big surprise. you definitely will see more of this on close elections. Someone will find more ballots and voila, results change. Pretty cool how that happens.
Cheers!!
If you think that’s something, wait until the missing ballots show up and all for Biden!
It will be a miracle!
Remember when they disallowed ballots from servicemembers overseas because they were too late to be counted?
The Democrats have dirty tricks up their sleeves, they won’t let Trump win again!
Wow last time I checked all the clerks in Allegan County are Republicans, so if the shredder’s running it’s ballots for Biden
This was not just a renewal millage vote…it was a Headlee override vote. Eighteen mills is the maximum allowed under state law for school millage.
This proposal was for an override of the Headlee amendment to allow 18.3 mills to be levied, so as to override the 18 mills that would be rolled back by Headlee to be something less than 18 mills.
When will the school boards in this area come to understand that the only tax break a business gets is the effects of Headlee… as the SEV of the district grows, the funds collected rise, kicking in Headlee. What Wayland Schools doesn’t tell us is how much new SEV values and taxes from it bring into the district funding every year. They want all the money they can get, so they want to continueto force a vote for Headlee override.
What confuses me is how they sell this to the public. Words like “this will not affect the homeowners tax rates” and it ” only affects business and rental properties” show me their disregard for business owners. They know that everyone in the district can vote on this… not just those who end up paying for the override, so they soft sell it.
I would wager that if the affected properties were the only ones allowed to vote, it would never pass. My advice to them is to start working on living in a budget that doesn’t depend on a Headlee override every three years.
As you can tell, I am a business owner and I have my principle residence in the district, so I see the taxation difference in my home and my business. And it is huge!
Ask for simple renewal and not a Headlee override and see what happens. I know that this issue will surface again soon and without a change in the language. I hope it fails.