Keeping our community safe and protecting residents and their property is the single largest responsibility of Township government. As your Township Supervisor, I’m reaching out to ask for your support tomorrow to maintain police services in our community: The millage renewal question—despite the legal wording—does not raise your taxes. In fact, it actually results in a slight decrease in the millage rate we currently pay. This proposal ensures that our Police Department has the officers, technology, and training needed to keep Clinton Township safe now and into the future.

Recent social media posts appear to have the goal of misguiding voters by implying a ‘Yes’ vote will result in an increase in property taxes. What this proposal really does is combine two millages that were previously approved by Clinton Township voters and extends them into one millage for a period of 10 years.

While this confusion is being fueled by political extremism, and state law requires it to mention the word ‘increase’, the language also clearly states ‘as a renewal of a portion of the 1.5 mills previously authorized by the [voters] in 2006, and .9875 mills previously authorized by the [voters] in 2018, …for police operations…’. This renewal simply restores the 2.4 mills of funding you previously approved, but at a smaller rate of 2.3766 mills, due to automatic rollbacks under the Headlee Amendment.

The above chart, pulled from an insert I created and that has been carried on by the new Treasurer to include with your Summer tax bill, shows that while schools, the county, and other millages are approved in the Summer tax bill and then distributed to those entities, the Township millages are collected on the Winter bill. The Blue on the winter collection is specifically for Police Services. The Red is specific to the Fire Department. The  Yellow sliver is for general operations of the Township. What that means is that everything the township does that is not related to Police, Fire, and Water & Sewer is funded by less than 1 mill of your tax bill.

Voting against this proposal will reduce our Police Department budget by nearly a third, or $9.6 million. These are dollars that cannot be made up from other funding sources because they simply do not exist. It would cripple police services and likely result in severe cuts in the number of officers, and dramatically erode the ability of the Police Department to adequately serve our community.

The bottom line is that by voting Yes, residents will not see a tax increase and they will maintain police services in our community. Voting No will result in a drop in taxes, but that reduction will come at the expense of public safety.

Thank you for taking the time to stay informed, and for standing with us to keep Clinton Township a safe place to live, work, and raise a family.

Respectfully,

Paul Gieleghem