On Tuesday, May 2, voters in the Morenci school district will be asked to renew an operating millage to allow the district to assess the full 18 mills on non-homestead property, such as vacation homes, apartment buildings, rental homes and commercial/industrial property. The annual request is the only issue on the ballot.
The 18-mill operating millage has been in place since 1994 and came to be with the passage of Proposal A. Under Proposal A, all Michigan school districts are required to collect 18 mills on non-homestead property to pay for operations or day-to-day functions from employee salaries to curriculum and utilities.
The 18-mill rate has been in place, as required, consistently throughout the years and has only fluctuated by the 1978 Headlee Amendment which protects property owners from increases in taxes by rolling back tax rates of millages so that growth does not exceed the rate of inflation.
Although the ballot language always describes the proposal as an increase, it is actually a renewal of the existing millage that only applies to property such as vacation homes, apartment buildings, rental homes and commercial/industrial property.
Morenci City Offices, located at 118 Orchard St., Morenci, MI, will be open for voting 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2. City Hall will be open 8:00 a.m. until noon on Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30 for the purposes of registering to vote and turn in absentee ballots.