Dearborn Schools Will Ask Residents To Renew Homeowners, Business Tax

DEARBORN, MI — Dearborn Public Schools will ask voters in February to renew a tax on homeowners and businesses to help fund the district.

School officials approved putting the millage renewal on the Feb. 27, 2024 ballot, which is Michigan's 2024 Presidential Primary. The decision was made Tuesday night during a Board of Education meeting.

Officials reiterated the question is not a new tax, but a renewal of an existing tax.

The operating millage on businesses and homeowners represents $41 million, or 16 percent, of the district's general fund budget, school officials said.

The proposal would renew the required 18 mills on business and other non-homestead properties. For homeowners, the proposed renewal would drop the tax by a third (from 6.17 mills to 4 mills). The district only collected 2.04 mills of that this fiscal year, school officials said.

The taxes help the district pay for everyday expenses, including staff, curriculum materials, utility bills and more, school officials said. The proposal is not a bond for building renovations or construction.

Of the $41 million generated by the taxes, less than $7 million is from homeowners and the other $34 million is from businesses, rentals and other non-homestead property, school officials said.

If voters reject the tax, Dearborn Schools would have one of the lowest per pupil revenues in Michigan and would be forced to cut spending across almost all its schools and programs, school officials said.

Without the business and other non-homestead properties tax, the district would end up with $7,891 in per-student revenue, much less than the state’s base of $9,608 in per-pupil funding, school officials said.

Although the actual tax rate on homeowners will vary by year based on the district's student enrollment and local tax values, the renewal would cap the rate at 4 mills, lower than the 6.17 mills that was approved by homeowners in 2014.

Dearborn Schools is allowed to collect $313 per student from homeowners. If the state raises the district’s per pupil foundation allowance enough, the tax on homeowners would disappear as it has in more than a dozen other school districts in the decades since Proposal A passed, school officials said.

Proposal A changed how schools were funded, shifting them from relying mostly on local property taxes to a system mostly funded by the state.

Voters can get more information about the operating millage in a presentation created by the district or on a new webpage dedicated to the Operating Millage Renewal at dearbornschools.org/operating-millage-renewal.

"We hope residents will gather accurate information about this critical funding for the district and then remember to vote on or before Feb. 27, 2024 during the presidential primary," Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said.