GAYLORD — Otsego County Board of Commissioners Chairman Doug Johnson is currently the longest-serving county commissioner in Michigan, having first taken office in 1981. At Tuesday's county board meeting, he did something that he had never done before.
He was the lone no vote on a proposal to place a 0.8929 five-year millage request to fund the Otsego County Commission on Aging (OCCOA) on the November ballot. The other eight commissioners — Trevor Burroughs, Jason Clement, Terra Deming, Henry Mason, Brett McVannel, Jonathan Turnbull, Dana Wingo and Kyle Yohe — voted in favor of the measure.
For his part, Johnson is not opposed to funding the OCCOA, he just wanted to ask voters to decide on a one mill renewal of the OCCOA property tax on the August ballot like they have done for nearly 20 years. In fact, that was what a majority of the public speakers who addressed the board thought should be done.
Johnson has apparently decided to end his 44-year run and is not listed as a candidate on the Aug. 6 ballot in District 7. However, Burroughs, Clement, Mason and Yohe are facing primary challengers in August and that was noted by several speakers at Tuesday's meeting.
"That opposition has just been supercharged," said Arnie Morse of Bagley Township.
Previously, the county board's finance committee had unanimously approved placing the five-year one mill renewal for the OCCOA on the Aug. 6 ballot. However, at the April 23 county board meeting, commissioners tabled the resolution and referred it back to the committee.
At a meeting on May 6, finance members instead approved asking voters to decide on a 0.8929 of a mill and place it on the November ballot.
"The 0.89 mill makes no sense due to high costs, the strong need and an aging population," said Mary Beth Wakulat of Livingston Township. "I am grateful that the silliness of some commissioners talking about cutting the millage to .50 or .75 has gone with the wind. Maybe it's gone with the wind, but it is not forgotten by your constituents."
"To say you cannot take a cut and make it work is a difficult way to go," said Mason, a strong advocate of the reduction.
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So why not allow the public to vote on the one mill renewal like they have for the last 20 years?
"Because of inflation costs and the rising cost of everything for all of our citizens. We made the call to lower it because it won't reduce it by much money but it will put some money back into taxpayers' pockets," Yohe said.
"After the finance committee re-evaluated the numbers and negotiated with OCCOA and they were the ones who came in and settled at the .89 to allow the citizens to vote on that. The constituents asked us to look into it deeper. We looked into it deeper and it sounds like the finance committee came out with a happy ending with OCCOA and we are allowing everyone to vote on it," added Burroughs. "November is a better turnout and we are trying to get it to as many voters as possible."
McVannel offered a way for the board to place a one mill five-year renewal on the August ballot. However, only commissioners Deming and Johnson joined him in voting in favor of it.
One mill is equal to $1 in property tax levied per $1,000 of a property's taxable value. A one mill tax on a home with a taxable value of $100,000 has been paying approximately $100 a year to fund OCCOA. Reducing the millage to .8929 of a mill would mean a tax bill of a little over $89 a year.
Currently, the one mill tax provides about 67 percent of OCCOA's $2.28 million budget, according Dona Wishart, executive director of the commission on aging.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
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