Oakland County voters will decide Aug. 4 whether to hike taxes

Oakland County voters will vote Aug. 4 on a proposal to increase their property taxes by 1.5 mills for six years to provide more money to local schools.

The ballot proposal would raise property taxes by $1.50 on each $1,000 of taxable value. That money would fund staff recruitment and retention, improve school safety, and allow school districts to determine their needs, according to the Oakland School Enhancement millage website.

The official ballot language says the millage would raise about $125 million if approved.

Some elected officials oppose the tax hike. The proposal would create a countywide redistribution system for schools, Oakland County Commissioner Bob Hoffman wrote in a June letter opposing the millage.

The millage is expected to generate $131 million the first year and is set to increase every year by five percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, according to Hoffman. Property owners in some districts would see their tax dollars go to schools in other counties, he wrote.

Hoffman accused the Holly Area School distrct, which he says supports the ballot issue, of lowballing the cost by emphasizing the impact for the owner of a $200,000 home, even though the average price of a home in the county is almost $400,000.

The website Oakland Enhancement Millage provides a tax calculator so that voters can estimate how much their property taxes would increase.

Tax revenue from the millage would flow to more than two dozen school districts in Oakland County: Avondale School District; Berkley School District; Birmingham Public Schools; Bloomfield Hills Schools; Brandon School District; Clarenceville School District; Clarkston Community Schools; Clawson Public Schools; Farmington Public Schools; Ferndale Public Schools; Hazel Park Schools; Holly Area Schools; Huron Valley Schools; Lake Orion Community Schools; The Lamphere Schools; Madison District Public Schools; Novi Community School District; Oak Park Schools; Oxford Community Schools; Pontiac School District; Rochester Community Schools; Royal Oak Schools; South Lyon Community Schools; Southfield Public Schools; Troy School District; Walled Lake Consolidated Schools; Waterford School District; West Bloomfield School District.

One school board member of Rochester Community Schools opposes the tax proposal.

“Rochester Community Schools is not facing a financial crisis,” said Carol Beth Litkouhi, a school board member in the district, in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The district is experiencing revenue growth and has a healthy fund balance, she wrote. Oakland County districts already collect more in local funding than those in any other county in the state, she added.

“Proponents need to explain why taxpayers should approve a new tax when they haven’t laid out why it’s needed, specified how it would be used, or explained how anyone would know if it worked,” Litkouhi wrote.

Litkouhi told CapCon that she has sat in the meetings on the millage proposal, and she believes the case hasn’t been made.

“Before asking residents for more money, the district needs to show it’s effectively managing what it already has and taxpayers haven’t been given the full picture.”

A website created by county Republicans argues that the new tax funds would be unrestricted and unaccountable to taxpayers. There is no requirement that the money go to classrooms, teachers, or students.

The Oakland County Republican Party alleges that the superintendent admitted in a closed-door meeting that because the funds are only guaranteed for six years, they likely cannot reliably go to teacher salaries.

Kenneth Gutman is currently the superintendent of Oakland Schools, the regional school district. He did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The Oakland Schools Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.