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By Phreddy Wischusen
The Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — On Aug. 5, in addition to selecting candidates for November’s general election, Wayne County residents will be asked to vote on two number of millage proposals to fund education and transit.
According to Wayne County’s website, a proposal to renew and increase .59 mills to 1 mill (2014-2017) could generate over $17 million dollars in its first year for the regional SMART bus system. A mill is equal to one dollar per thousand dollars of taxable property value.
Megan Owens of Transportation Riders United, a non-profit dedicated to improving and expanding public transportation, says Detroit residents (who are served by DDOT) will not see the millage on their ballots. Highland Park, Hamtramck and other Wayne County cities served by the SMART system will.
“We are very much urging people to vote yes,” Owens says, “primarily because without a yes vote on (Aug. 5), SMART would stop operation.”
In addition to SMART-designated communities, Owens estimates as many as 10,000 Detroiters ride SMART buses to jobs in the suburbs each day.
The Wayne Regional Service Agency is the intermediate school district for Wayne County. According to Wayne RESA’s website, an intermediate school districts provide consolidated services that could be too costly otherwise for Wayne County’s 33 individual public school systems and 114 public school academies. Funding for Wayne RESA comes from a mix of county taxes, state aid and federal grants.
The regional enhancement millage proposal asks Wayne County voters for a 2 mill increase above the current 3.36 mill for a period of six years (2014-2019). Millage funds are distributed to public school districts on a per pupil basis by law, says Wayne RESA Superintendent Chris Wigent. If passed, the millage increase will raise approximately $80 million dollars for the county’s 33 districts in the first year. Public charter academies and the state’s Educational Achievement Authority, are not legally eligible to receive funds from the millage increase.
There are approximately 10,000 Detroit children enrolled in the EAA.
Steve Wasko, assistant superintendent, community relations of DPS, says funds generated by a potential millage increase have already been included in the budget. Even with those funds factored in, DPS has increased maximum classroom size to 43 students for grades 4-12.
DPS has not planned for the possibility the millage will not pass.
Edna Reaves, executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, says any additional funding is important for Detroit students. “We always support the millages that support the school environment and the learning conditions for our students,” she says. “We support it for every school district.”
Elected DPS School Board member and county commission candidate Lamar Lemmons, however, urges residents to vote no, and says the elected school board has taken action to oppose the ballot measure. The proposal was drafted without the consent of the school board, he said, by DPS EM Jack Martin, in collaboration with other school districts. Because students in DPS represent such a large portion of RESA’s district, Martin alone had the power to get the proposal on the ballot.
“This a clear taxation without representation,” Lemmons said. He says the millage will be a considerable tax increase on homeowners, and since the emergency manager is not elected, citizens will have no recourse if they feel their dollars are misused.
“If the people pass it, then Gov. Snyder’s emergency manager will control and administer those fund,” Lemmons says. “None of the emergency mangers have proven to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.
voters[/caption]
By Phreddy Wischusen
The Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — On Aug. 5, in addition to selecting candidates for November’s general election, Wayne County residents will be asked to vote on two number of millage proposals to fund education and transit.
According to Wayne County’s website, a proposal to renew and increase .59 mills to 1 mill (2014-2017) could generate over $17 million dollars in its first year for the regional SMART bus system. A mill is equal to one dollar per thousand dollars of taxable property value.
Megan Owens of Transportation Riders United, a non-profit dedicated to improving and expanding public transportation, says Detroit residents (who are served by DDOT) will not see the millage on their ballots. Highland Park, Hamtramck and other Wayne County cities served by the SMART system will.
“We are very much urging people to vote yes,” Owens says, “primarily because without a yes vote on (Aug. 5), SMART would stop operation.”
In addition to SMART-designated communities, Owens estimates as many as 10,000 Detroiters ride SMART buses to jobs in the suburbs each day.
The Wayne Regional Service Agency is the intermediate school district for Wayne County. According to Wayne RESA’s website, an intermediate school districts provide consolidated services that could be too costly otherwise for Wayne County’s 33 individual public school systems and 114 public school academies. Funding for Wayne RESA comes from a mix of county taxes, state aid and federal grants.
The regional enhancement millage proposal asks Wayne County voters for a 2 mill increase above the current 3.36 mill for a period of six years (2014-2019). Millage funds are distributed to public school districts on a per pupil basis by law, says Wayne RESA Superintendent Chris Wigent. If passed, the millage increase will raise approximately $80 million dollars for the county’s 33 districts in the first year. Public charter academies and the state’s Educational Achievement Authority, are not legally eligible to receive funds from the millage increase.
There are approximately 10,000 Detroit children enrolled in the EAA.
Steve Wasko, assistant superintendent, community relations of DPS, says funds generated by a potential millage increase have already been included in the budget. Even with those funds factored in, DPS has increased maximum classroom size to 43 students for grades 4-12.
DPS has not planned for the possibility the millage will not pass.
Edna Reaves, executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, says any additional funding is important for Detroit students. “We always support the millages that support the school environment and the learning conditions for our students,” she says. “We support it for every school district.”
Elected DPS School Board member and county commission candidate Lamar Lemmons, however, urges residents to vote no, and says the elected school board has taken action to oppose the ballot measure. The proposal was drafted without the consent of the school board, he said, by DPS EM Jack Martin, in collaboration with other school districts. Because students in DPS represent such a large portion of RESA’s district, Martin alone had the power to get the proposal on the ballot.
“This a clear taxation without representation,” Lemmons said. He says the millage will be a considerable tax increase on homeowners, and since the emergency manager is not elected, citizens will have no recourse if they feel their dollars are misused.
“If the people pass it, then Gov. Snyder’s emergency manager will control and administer those fund,” Lemmons says. “None of the emergency mangers have proven to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.