By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.-School district officials will answer questions regarding the proposed clean water millage during a public Q&A session planned for 6 p.m., June 23, at ITEC, 609 S. Ortonville Road.

“I am hoping for a good discussion, this is part of our responsibility to share factual information with the public,” said Supt. Matt Outlaw. “We are asking for this millage because we need clean water and financial health in our district. We feel this is a necessity.”

The board unanimously agreed in April to put a 2-year, 2-mill proposal on the Aug. 2 primary ballot. The sinking fund millage, if approved by voters, would garner $2.2 million to 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.

The board began discussing a sinking fund millage option last fall after voters overwhelmingly defeated a proposal for sewer infrastructure in the village that could have encompassed several school buildings. The district’s high school and middle school share a waste

water treatment plant that has been failing to meet Michigan Department of Environmental Quality standards for years. The DEQ has mandated the plant be replaced by November 2019. The estimated cost of replacing the plant is $1.5 million.

Also looming large for the district is 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 to make them ADA compliant.

The restroom renovations have a total estimated cost of $300,000. Like many other needed capital improvements, 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.

If the sinking fund millage is passed, it will help the district with a third of that total cost.

At the Q&A, a panel of district officials, including Outlaw, Executive Director of Business Services Jan Meek, School Board President Kevin McClellan, and possibly a few more school board members will be on hand to answer any questions, all of which will be submitted on index cards from the audience and read by the panel, which will then respond.

A short 10-minute presentation will precede the questions, in which Outlaw will outline information currently available at http://www.brandonschooldistrict.org/index.php/clean-water-millage,
including why the millage has been requested, what happens if it fails, why the DEQ has mandated a date of November 2019 for replacement, why the pool has not yet been fixed, what issues there are with restrooms, and why the state changed the terms of the 2006 bond.

Public Act 437, passed by the state legislature in 2012, mandates that schools pay off loans from the state within six years of paying off bonds. District voters passed a $73 million bond in 2006 at the height of the housing market. The market crash resulted in the district borrowing $4 million a year on average from the state since in order to make bond payments. The change in terms to force the district to pay back more than $40 million in borrowed money within the time limit resulted in the district having to increase the 8 mills levied to the maximum of 13 mills and subsequently raised the ire of taxpayers.

That 13 mill amount was lowered by .83 of a mill this year as a result of refinancing the bonds to a lower rate.The amount could fluctuate in future years, with increases or decreases in property values.

The proposed sinking fund millage, unlike the existing bond millage, will not fluctuate and has a set time period of two years, and specified improvements to which it can be used. For a home valued at $200,000 (SEV $100,000), the millage would cost the owner $200 per year.

“The bottom line is we are doing this because we feel it is absolutely necessary,” said Outlaw. “We are driven by the DEQ mandate on our water issues. We must do this to remain a financially healthy school district… A lot of people supported the 2006 bond and as a result, we have state-of-the-art facilities to support our kids. This millage is about protecting what we have and opportunities for our kids.”

For more information on the upcoming vote go to: http://www.brandonschooldistrict.org/index.php/clean-water-millage