Reject a Tax Hike? It'll Be Back
Wyoming residents soundly reject millage, school board puts it back on the ballot
In May, 58 percent of the voters rejected a 10-year, 0.5 mill tax for the Wyoming Public Schools.
Three months later, voters will be asked to vote on the same funding proposal as the Wyoming Board of Education voted to put it back on the ballot for an August election.
Wyoming School Board Trustee Mary Vande Water blamed the first rejection on a competing ballot proposal for the Grand Rapids transit system. The voters from the city of Wyoming didn’t support the Grand Rapids transit system ballot proposal but it passed anyway.
Eric Larson, spokesman for the watchdog group Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, called it “insulting” to the voters to infer they weren’t aware of what they were voting on.
“It’s a lack of respect towards the voters and their voice,” he said.
Larson said if the voters had passed the millage in November, the school board wouldn’t come back three months later to double check that vote.
“They keeping asking until they get ‘Yes,’” Larson said.
Other schools have attempted to get rejected millages back before voters in a matter of months.
In Eaton Rapids, 57 percent of the voters rejected a $25.1 million bond proposal in November, 2010. In February, it was back before the voters again. The reason for a second vote was that just after the November election, the district learned it was awarded a special funding package from the state that would save taxpayers $17 million if the bond proposal was passed.
Voters weren’t swayed. It was defeated again by 51.5 percent of the vote.
The second-bite-at-the-apple bonds strategy has caught the attention of legislators.
State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, said he is considering legislation that would mandate a year pass before a rejected bond could be put on the ballot again. And Agema said he’d also like to see all those elections happen in November when there is a bigger turnout.
Just over 6,000 people voted in November in the Eaton Rapids bond vote. Three months later, the turnout dropped to about 2,100.
“I could do that in a heartbeat,” Agema said about the legislation. “Most people in the Legislature are sick of them doing it. If they don’t get their way, the put another one up.”
Wyoming School Board President Deborah Fewless and Vande Water didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
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See also:
Anatomy of How to Kill a Tax Hike
Commentary: Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials
Coverage of School District Claiming Cuts
Helpful Facts About Michigan's Public Sector
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FROM MICHIGAN HOME HELP PROGRAM PROVIDERS — OFTEN FAMILY MEMBERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERED THE STATE TO STOP TAKING MONEY ON MAY 25, 2012
opinion May 25, 2012
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) "organized” Michigan's self-employed Home Help Program providers for the purpose of skimming dues from their ailing and disabled clients' Medicaid subsidy checks. The majority of these providers are relatives or friends taking care of loved ones. It’s been estimated that less than 25 percent of the providers are hired in an employment setting.
The first counter tallies SEIU dues skimmed since the union and state officials first launched this scheme in late 2006. The second shows the amount skimmed since June 9, 2011, when the Michigan House passed and sent to the Senate a bill to ban this and all similar “stealth unionization” efforts. The third counter shows the dues skimmed since the Governor signed the bill into law on April 10, 2012. The fourth counter shows the amount skimmed since May 25, 2012, when the Attorney General opinion was announced.
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