DIA Thanks Voters for Millage as Some Cities Continue Fight to Keep the Funds

The Detroit Institute of Arts recently thanked voters for approving a millage last August to support the museum even as some communities continue a fight in court to keep a portion of those tax dollars.

Voters in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties approved a tax of 0.2 mills for the next 10 years to help cover the museum's operating costs. In return, tri-county residents will receive free admission to the DIA for the next decade. In the meanwhile, the museum's fundraisers will work to build a sustainable endowment.

"I cannot tell you what an important and critical vote that was," DIA chief operating officer Annmarie Erickson said after the 2013 Inside|Out communities were announced at the museum this month. "Your help really did an amazingly critical thing for the DIA."

"It also was an amazing statement on regionalism," she added. "This kind of back and forth is going to be essential to moving forward in southeast Michigan."

However, the thank you comes as a handful of Wayne County communities—including Wyandotte—continue a fight in court for the right to keep a portion of the tax dollars earmarked for the museum, as well as the Detroit Zoo, for their downtowns.

Erickson did not address the lawsuit in her discussion about the millage, but said to the Detroit Free Press that she felt opinion would be split.

"I think your opinion is going to be determined by which side of the fence you're sitting on—either with the zoo and the DIA, which specifically sought millages to support their operations; or with these downtown development authorities, who believe they can capture part of that," she said.

Some Wyandotte residents made their allegiance clear, saying what they voted for is where they want the money to go.

Mick Bo said: "Shame on Wyandotte and all the other communities want to "take" this money. It is NOT what we voted for! Give it back to the taxpayers IF it doesn't go where we voted for it to go. Shame, shame, shame!"