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PEWAMO — Voters within the Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools district are being asked to renew an 18-mill, 10-year, non-homestead school operations millage in the Feb. 27 election.
Superintendent Jennifer Goodman
The millage does not apply to homeowners (hence “non-homestead”) and would be levied on all taxable property other than a principal residence, including industrial, commercial, business and rental properties and second homes. Agricultural properties are also excluded from the millage.
All Michigan school districts must levy 18 mills on non-homestead property to receive their full foundation allowance, which is the primary source of funding for schools in the state.
“I want the voters to know that the non-homestead operating millage is not a new tax,” explained P-W Superintendent Jennifer Goodman. “As a result of Proposal A, the statewide school finance reform that voters passed in 1994, Michigan school districts must levy an 18 mill local property tax on non-homestead property for a specific time period to receive its full per-pupil funding.”
First levied in 1994 and previously approved by voters in 2020, renewing the non-homestead millage would allow P-W to continue levying the statutory rate of 18 mills on non-homestead property and therefore receive the full revenue-per-pupil foundation allowance.
To avoid the effects of the Headlee rollback, the district is asking for 20.8113 mills instead of the basic 18. This is a reaction to the 1978 Headlee amendment to the Michigan Constitution requiring local government units, including school districts, to reduce their millage when annual growth on existing property values is greater than the inflation rate.
If the operating millage proposal does not pass, P-W would not receive $464,000 per year in its general fund, the primary operating fund for the district that accounts for most of what it takes to teach children in a classroom.
Money collected through the millage is used for day-to-day operations, educational programs and athletics. The district is legally prohibited from using bond or sinking fund money for these purposes, but an active operating millage is required by the state in order to receive full student funding.
“The passing of this non-homestead operating millage would generate approximately $464,000 annually,” Goodman said. “An unsuccessful renewal of this tax would mean the loss of $464,000 in operational funding, which would significantly impact the programs and services currently offered to our students.”
Members of the P-W Board of Education did not return messages seeking comment for this story.
For more information, visit pwschools.org, email jennifer.goodman@pwschools.org or call (989) 587-5100.
Following is the complete ballot language:
This proposal will allow the school district to continue to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance. The remaining 2.8113 mills are only available to be levied to restore millage lost as a result of the reduction required by the “Headlee” amendment to the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and will only be levied to the extent necessary to restore that reduction.
Shall the currently authorized millage rate limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools, Clinton and Ionia Counties, Michigan, be renewed by 20.8113 mills ($20.8113 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 10 years, 2025 to 2034, inclusive, to provide funds for operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and 18 mills are levied in 2025 is approximately $464,000 (this is a renewal of millage that will expire with the 2024 tax levy)?
