The Chelsea City Council was given a presentation by County Commissioner Kent Martinez Kratz regarding a recent 5-4 vote by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to place a 8-year, county-wide 1 mill millage for mental health and public safety on the November ballot.
He said that if approved by voters, the new millage would raise about $15 million and about $6 million would go to County Mental Health, about $6 million would go to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and about $4.3 million would go to the cities that have their own police departments, such as Chelsea.
Below is what the County Commissioners voted on:
Washtenaw County Community Mental Health and Public Safety Preservation Millage
For the purposes of using the Washtenaw County Community Mental Health Department to improve the treatment of people with mental health needs, provide increased financial support for mental health crisis, stabilization and prevention, and for continued law enforcement services provided by the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, and for local governments which have their own police force, shall the limitations on the total amount of taxes which may be levied against taxable property within Washtenaw County, Michigan, as provided for by Section 6 of Article IX of the Michigan Constitution of 1963, be increased up to the amount of $1.00 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation (1.0 mills) for a period of eight years, beginning with the December 1, 2017 levy and extending through the 2025 levy, which shall raise in the first year an estimated $15,433,608.00 to be used as follows: 38% shall be allocated to Washtenaw County’s Community Mental Health Department for mental health crisis, stabilization and prevention, and to meet mental health needs in an appropriate setting, thus reducing the burden on the jail and improving care; 38% shall be allocated to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) to ensure continued operations and increased collaboration with the mental health community; and 24% shall be allocated to jurisdictions in the County which maintain their own police force as of August 2017 (Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, Pittsfield Township and Northfield Township) in proportion to their respective taxable values?”
Martinez Kratz said he voted no explaining that townships such as Lima, Lyndon and Sylvan that do not contract with the County Sheriff’s Office “would get no benefit that I see.”
Chelsea PD, he said, would receive about $95,000. (Note, 1 mill in Chelsea raises about $125,000.)
He said that the language in the proposal was vague and that there were “no specifics that the WCSD needs to adhere to,” and in addition, that “there was no direct obligation to help the townships.”
He called the millage “heavily centered on cities” but added that the Sheriff’s Office promised to work on “reducing some policing costs.”
Martinez Kratz said he thought this millage would “hurt out-county communities tremendously” and make them “donor communities” to the county coffers with their tax dollars. Plus, he said, for some townships that levy less than 1 mill for township operations, this would double people’s taxes.
For the full presentation from the City Council meeting, please click here.
