What's on the ballot in City of Portage, Kalamazoo County

A proposal to amend the City of Portage Charter to establish a Citizens’ Advisory Healthcare Action Board appointed by the City Council to address healthcare affordability and access. The Board would gather public testimony from the community; analyze data; review how federal, state, and local policies have affected healthcare affordability and access; and produce a biennial Healthcare Action Plan. The Healthcare Action Plan must evaluate changes in health insurance and benefit coverage, track actions of federal and state officials, and recommend solutions. The City Council must adopt and publish a Healthcare Action Plan. Shall the proposed be adopted?

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 and renews millage that will expire with the 2026 tax levy. Shall the currently authorized millage rate limitation of 19.9780 mills ($19.9780 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Schoolcraft Community Schools, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, be renewed for a period of 10 years, 2027 to 2036, 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 2027 is approximately $1,275,000 (this is a renewal of millage that will expire with the 2026 tax levy)?

Shall Comstock Public Schools, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, borrow the sum of not to exceed Twenty-Three Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($23,700,000) and issue its general obligation unlimited tax bonds therefor, in one or more series, for the purpose of: erecting, completing and remodeling school buildings, facilities and additions to school buildings and facilities, including school safety and security improvements; equipping, re-equipping, furnishing and refurnishing school buildings and facilities; purchasing school buses; acquiring, installing, equipping and re-equipping school buildings for instructional technology; and preparing, developing, improving and equipping athletic fields, play fields, playgrounds, structures, facilities and sites? The following is for informational purposes only: The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2027 is 0.43 mill ($0.43 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a 0.00 mill net increase over the prior year’s levy. The maximum number of years the bonds of any series may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is thirty (30) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 1.23 mills ($1.23 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation). (Pursuant to State law, expenditure of bond proceeds must be audited and the proceeds cannot be used for repair or maintenance costs, teacher, administrator or employee salaries, or other operating expenses.)