After several weeks of debate, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners is expected tonight to place the Mental Health and Public Safety millage renewal on the November ballot.
For several weeks, local residents have been asking that the millage be changed to only go to mental health programs. But commissioners say, since it’s a renewal, that would require an entirely new millage, and there isn’t enough support to do that.
Board Chair Justin Hodge says they did make some changes to how the dollars will be spent on the sheriff’s side. Now, half of the public safety dollars will go to police services and equipment.
“And in our case, it’s largely for subsidizing police service contracts, and the remaining 50% will go to other kinds of programming that people typically wouldn’t think of as policing services.”
The one-mil levy millage renewal is for eight years and is expected to raise over $22.4 million the first year.
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