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Bloomfield Hills board asks to put countywide enhancement millage question before voters, prompting split vote
Summary
Trustees approved a resolution asking that voters be given the opportunity to decide a countywide regional enhancement millage (1.5 mills for six years). Trustees debated donor-donee implications, the August timing and whether the board is the appropriate forum to exert control over countywide funding distribution.
On Feb. 23 the Bloomfield Hills Schools Board of Education approved a resolution to ask that Oakland County place a regional enhancement millage before county voters, a move that won majority support but divided trustees on principle and optics.
What the proposal does: Under Michigan law (MCL 380.705), a countywide regional enhancement millage can be proposed if enough constituent school districts request it; revenues would be collected by the intermediate school district (ISD) and distributed to districts on a per-student basis. The administration described a 1.5-mill, six-year proposal that county modeling suggested would yield about $781 per student to a typical district and would cost approximately $150 per year on a $200,000 taxable value home.
Distribution and donor-donee concerns: Superintendent West explained the countywide math and said Bloomfield Hills would be a net "donor district" under modeled assumptions, receiving roughly 47 cents back on the dollar collected locally in the example discussed. Several trustees objected to the optics of a donor district voting to allow countywide collection and questioned whether the August (low-turnout) election was the appropriate timing for a major revenue question.
Board debate and vote: Trustees split 4-2 on whether to adopt the board resolution to ask counties to place the question on the ballot; supporters argued the millage would provide unrestricted operating revenue to help districts that are currently underfunded, while opponents said the distribution mechanism and August timing raise equity and democratic-participation concerns.
Next steps: Board approval sends the request forward to county-level certification processes; county and ISD officials will continue to coordinate timing and certification if enough districts sign on. A countywide decision would be made by voters; local boards' resolutions do not themselves levy a tax but request that the question be put to voters.
