By Susan Bromley
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- Voters here will see a sinking fund millage question on the August ballot.

At their April 18 meeting, the school board unanimously agreed to put a 2-year, 2-mill proposal on the Aug. 2 ballot. The sinking fund millage, if approved by voters, would garner $2.2 million. The money would be used to fund a new wastewater treatment plant serving the high school and middle school, as well as a new roof and dehumidification system for the aquatic center. Any leftover money would be used toward the cost of restroom renovations needed at the intermediate school and high school.

“On Aug. 2, we will have a vote and the district is preparing materials to educate the community on the upcoming millage,” said Superintendent Matt Outlaw. “The approval (at the April 18 meeting) was to submit ballot language to the county.”

The district’s attorneys, Thrun Law Firm, will craft ballot language for the sinking fund millage, which must be submitted to the Oakland County Elections Division by May 10 for approval to be placed on the ballot.

The board began discussing a sinking fund millage option last fall after voters in the village overwhelmingly shot down a proposal that would have brought sewers here. Sewer infrastructure would have benefitted the school district, which has five buildings that could have been served, including the high school and middle school. Those facilities have a shared wastewater treatment plant that has been failing to meet Michigan Department of Environmental Quality standards for years and the DEQ has mandated the plant be replaced by November 2019. Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber, a geo-tech firm hired by the district, has estimated the cost of replacing the plant at $1.5 million.

Additionally, district officials also have hanging over their heads the cost of replacing the aquatic center roof and installing a dehumidification system to prevent further issues, estimated at $600,000. The roughly $100,000 remaining if the sinking fund millage passed would be used for restroom renovations, which include making the facilities easily accessible to students with disabilities.

The restroom renovations, Outlaw said, have a total estimated cost of $300,000. Like many other capital improvements that are looming, the balance will be figured into the year to year budget and paid for out of the fund balance. In all, the district is facing a $6.6 million challenge over the next 5 years, due to declining enrollment and other costs.

“We are asking the public to help with a third of these costs through the sinking fund millage,” said Outlaw. “The reason this is necessary is that we want to remain financially healthy. If we used the year-to-year budget and fund balance for all of it, the district will wind up on the early warning list for the state as a financially stressed school district. That would begin a series of actions where the state has to intervene and would mean much tougher cuts that could potentially impact students more than what we think is in the students’ best interests. We are trying to avoid cuts that really impact student education.”
Kris Kordella, a district resident, voiced objections at the school board meeting to the selection of the August ballot to pose the question instead of November, when more voters typically turn out.
“It should be moved to the November election,” he said. “You will draw at least double the amount of voters. You should all want more people to vote on the passage of this millage.”

The board previously decided upon August, however, so the millage question would not be lost on a crowded November ballot. Research, Outlaw said, also shows that more educated, informed voters turn out for the August election.