By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.-The day after the proposed school district millage failed, Superintendent Matt Outlaw was looking forward, even while facing the daunting task of funding needed projects without community support.

“I am disappointed, but I understand that its tough to ask people to raise their taxes,” said Outlaw. “We didn’t go into this lightly, we went into this because we needed help with these projects. We’re on our own at this point… I will talk to the board of education about the election results, but I think the voters of the community have spoken on this issue. We are going to move forward as a district and do what we have to do to keep our district heading in the right direction.”

On Aug. 2, voters defeated the sinking fund tax levy, a proposed 2-mills for 2 years that would have raised about $2.2 million for the district to install a new wastewater treatment plant to service the middle school and high school, a new roof and dehumidification system for the aquatic center, and restroom renovations needed at the intermediate school and high school.

The proposed “clean water millage” failed with 1,778 no votes, or 60.77 percent, to 1,148 yes votes, 39.23 percent, in Oakland County, where the majority of Brandon School District voters reside.

Bill Kish, who cast a ballot at Fletcher Intermediate School on Tuesday, said he doesn’t usually vote in primary elections, but came out specifically to say no to the millage.

“I think we’ve had enough taxes in my lifetime,

we’re taxed out,” he said. “It feels like I’m the bad guy because it’s for schools, but they have the money, they should allocate it properly. At some point, the people will run out of money. At some point, you choose whether to feed your family or pay another tax increase.”

Bob Harris said he came out to vote “because if you don’t vote, you can’t bitch.” He also voted no on the school millage because he is “taxed to death and can’t afford it.”

Outlaw acknowledges “a perfect storm” of events that got to the district to this point. A $73 million bond passed in 2006 by voters came at the height of property values. The housing market crashed soon after, and because of declining property values, the district had to borrow on average $4 million from the state’s School Bond Loan Fund every year since just to make the annual bond payments. Simultaneously, district enrollment began a drastic decline as families moved away as homes were foreclosed upon or to seek employment. The district has lost roughly 1,000 students in a decade, also attributed to a declining birth rate, and with revenue for school districts coming almost entirely from state per-pupil allowance, this has meant a severe decrease in funding.

On top of that, the state legislature passed in 2012 Public Act 437, which mandates that schools pay off loans from the state within six years of paying off bonds. The change in terms forces the district to pay back more than $40 million in borrowed money within the time limit and resulted in the district having to increase the 8 mills levied to the maximum of 13 mills, raising the ire of taxpayers.

P.A. 437 isn’t the only mandate the district has been given by the state. The Department of Environmental Quality has mandated the district replace the waste water treatment system at the middle school and high school by November 2019, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. School district officials had expressed hope that voters in the Village of Ortonville would pass a proposal last November to bring sewers to a town where the need for that infrastructure has been talked about for years. Sewers would have serviced multiple buildings in the district that are located in the village limits.

However, that proposal was overwhelmingly defeated by village voters who objected to the cost, which would have placed an estimated special assessment on each residence in the village of $25,550. Some had protested that if the school district needed sewers, the cost of such a system should be borne by all that live within the school district, not only those who live in the village.

The failure of the clean water millage does not change that the district needs to fix their waste water treatment system, nor the other improvements that are looming, including bathroom renovations to make them ADA compliant, repairs to the Oakwood Elementary parking lot, and air conditioning repairs at the middle school.

Nor does the failure of the millage change that someone must pay for the repairs, and ultimately, that may be children and teachers.

Outlaw said the money for the capital improvements will by necessity come from a fund balance the district has worked to increase and had hoped to keep from falling below the 5 percent level, which would put the district on the state’s critical list.

“Our fund balance will be diminished significantly from going alone,” he said. “If we address all the projects, it puts us below 5 percent, which is the trigger. It’s hard to say what specific reductions we will make, it’s done through a process with input from the community and administration, but 80 percent of the budget is staff. We have right-sized, but there will be more of that… The goal is the same as it has always been, keep the cuts as far from students as possible, but there will be changes over the next five years as we address these problems.”

Cindy Powell said she voted on on the millage because district administrators don’t know how to spend money wisely. She questioned what the district is doing with Belle Ann Elementary, which has mostly sat vacant since a reconfiguration of the district due to the loss of students.

Outlaw said many options have been explored for the school, including a community college sattelite campus, an assisted living facility and more, but “no one seems interested.”

He adds the district would consider selling the building at the right price, but they are not going to give away a community asset, and the sale would need to benefit both the school district and community.

Meanwhile, the district will dig into the fund balance now to start replacement of the waste water treatment system, perhaps as early as January.

“It takes years to do a project this large just because of the DEQ and all the permits we must have and the testing,” said Outlaw. It’s a major project and could start as early as next summer…The longer we wait the more expensive the project becomes and we know we have to do it.”