Letter: Council Member Urges 'No' Vote

To the Taxpayers of Newaygo County:
 This letter is to inform you of an upcoming millage request from the Newaygo County Sheriff Department. They want you to approve a millage increase of .5 mil on your property tax bill to fund their activities. This will bring in approximately $757,000 the first year, and will be a ten year assessment on all taxable properties. However, I am not in favor of the increase for an already rising tax value, for the following reasons:
 

1. This money will only support the Sheriff’s Department. No cities,villages or townships will receive these dollars.
   
2. Since the Newaygo area is doing economic development to attract more employers for the region, and keep more of our residents working here, how will this tax increase benefit job creation or the Promise Zone?
   
3. We have a need for housing stock to have affordable homes/apartments for people to live in, how will this tax increase affect housing starts and future development, when we have one of the highest taxes in the area?
   
4. One piece of the proposal is that deputy medical training will be done. With most fire depts in the county already having medical capability, why duplicate services? Put medical back where it belongs: with the fire departments.
   
5. Under the 2016 Medical Marijuana law, the sheriff department has been receiving tax revenue from the licensing of facilities in our county, as well as a secondary road patrol fund. Why is the millage needed?
   

 
I feel that until the questions above are answered and other means of financing are explored, the taxpayers do not deserve to be saddled with more tax debt.The sheriff department has the highest budget of all departments by a significant amount. I know that closed social media groups and others will probably label me as a cop hater and try to smear my reputation. I categorically deny that and am only concerned with our taxpayers getting the best service for the taxes they pay. All agencies need to remember that WE serve the taxpayers, not the other way around. Newaygo County has 48,000 residents with a taxable value of over 1.8 billion dollars of property. As more people move into our area, they are looking for housing and jobs. Why would a larger tax burden be allowed to possibly hinder economic progress and housing choices? I urge you vote NO on Thursday August 7.  Thank you.
Mike Hikade
Newaygo City Council Member