The Wayland Union School District will ask voters in the Aug. 4 primary election to approve a renewal of the non-homestead millage levy.
The proposal will be to renew the current 18.387 mill non-homestead millage to allow the district to levy the statutory rate of 18 mills on non-homestead properties in the district. Approval or disapproval will not result in a change to the taxes most citizens pay on primary residences.
By law (Proposal A of 1994), the non-homestead millage is only levied against commercial property, rental property, second homes and non-agricultural vacant land. This renewal is needed in order for the school district to receive its full revenue from the state.
The non-homestead millage makes up $3.66 million of the Wayland schools’ $32 million annual budget. If approved, the revenue will help pay for school programs, supplies, utilities, transportation, maintenance and staffing. The renewal is for a four-year period.
Non-homestead properties include businesses, investment properties, vacation homes and rental properties. The 18.37 mills is not levied on primary residences, so there is no cost to homeowners.
This millage was last approved by the voters in 2014. The current millage expires with the 2020 tax levy.
The revenue generated from non-homestead property taxes totals approximately $3.66 million annually. Failure to renew the non-homestead mills would change the state school aid foundation amount from the current $8,111 per student to a much lower $6,883 per student. If the ymillage fails, he state will not replace the funding and Wayland will be forced to reduce or eliminate instructional and support programs for our students to offset the reduction of revenue.
Michigan school districts receive most of their funding on a per-pupil basis. The amount that a school district receives per pupil is called the foundation allowance. The per-pupil foundation allowance for Wayland Union is $8,111. This represents approximately 80% of Wayland Union School’s revenue and is funded from two sources, local revenue collected on non-homestead property and state revenue.
The district is only legally allowed to levy a maximum of 18 mills, but is seeking renewal of the 18.387 mills as a means to protect against any future Headlee Amendment rollback. In the event of a Headlee rollback the district still would be able to levy the full 18 mills but no more.
Polls will be open at various locations in the district from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4. Absentee voter applications will be mailed to all voters who are registered prior to June 20. If after this date requests to have an absent voter ballot mailed to you must be received by your clerk no later than 5 p.m. the Friday before the election. Registered voters will need to return their absentee ballot application in order to receive a ballot by mail.
For more information about the non-homestead millage renewal election, call Pat Velie, assistant superintendent of Finance & Operations, at 269-792-2181.