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Muskegon County sets 2025 millage rates; Headley rollback reduces operating millage to 5.5069
Summary
The Ways and Means Committee approved millage rates to be levied in July and December 2025, reflecting a Headley amendment rollback that lowers the county's operating millage but yields a modest increase in dollars collected due to rising property values.
Muskegon County's Ways and Means Committee on May 13 approved millage rates that will be levied in July and December 2025, setting the county operating rate at 5.5069 mills while authorizing separate levies for the Lakeshore Museum Center, veterans services, central dispatch and senior services.
Finance Director Angela Gashevsky told commissioners the county's equalized value increased nearly 11% in 2025 while taxable value rose about 7.9%, but the Headley amendment ties allowed levy growth to inflation. "The taxable value ... went up about 7.9% for 2025. The inflation rate for the same period is about 3.1%. So that really caps us," Gashevsky said.
Gashevsky explained that because the Headley rollback reduces the millage base, the county's total millage will fall from the previously stated 6.7319 mills to about 6.663 after the statutory rollbacks, and the operating portion will be 5.5069 mills. She said that, despite the reduced millage rates, the county expects to collect slightly more dollars this year because the underlying property values increased.
The motion (WM250502) approved an operating levy of 5.5069 mills for Muskegon County to be levied July 2025; an operating levy of 0.311 mills for the Lakeshore Museum Center to be levied in December 2025; an operating levy of 0.0724 mills for the Department of Veterans Affairs to be levied in December 2025; an operating levy of 0.2897 mills for Muskegon County Central Dispatch to be levied in December 2025; and an operating levy of 0.483 mills under "PA 39 of 1976 activities or services for older persons act" to be levied in December 2025. The motion also authorized the Muskegon County Clerk and the chair of the Board of Commissioners to sign the forms required by the state of Michigan for submission by the Muskegon County Equalization Department. The motion was moved and supported and approved by voice vote.
Commissioner Chambers Wiggins asked how much the county's actual collections increased in dollars; Gashevsky pointed commissioners to a table in the packet showing an estimated additional $2,800,000 across the included millages compared with last year. "It shows you that over overall of this, it's not just our operating millage ... approximately of 2,800,000.0 would be this additional dollars collected across those millages this year," Gashevsky said.
Commissioners discussed the limits imposed by the Headley amendment and noted that a Headley override would require voter approval to reset previously rolled-back millage rates. Gashevsky said an override would require board approval to place the question before voters and would reset the millage to the original voted amount if approved.
No roll-call vote was recorded; the committee approved the motion by voice vote.
