Up for renewal
Hancock recreation millage seeking for .8 mills
Trending
HANCOCK -- The City of Hancock is giving voters a choice on whether or not to renew its current recreation millage to continue to fund the city's parks and recreational amenities. The renewal asks for .8 mills ($0.80 per $1,000 of taxable value) and would raise $128,664 in 2027 if passed. It would run from 2027 until 2031.
The city parks, HoCo Arena and other recreation areas are managed by the city's department of public works (DPW). These areas include Lauren Grove Park, Porvoo Park, 3rd Street Park, the ice rink, baseball and softball fields, Maasto Hiihto Ski Trails, as well Hancock Beach and the Campground.
DPW Director John Erickson said the millage is essential for these areas to be maintained. "We're able to buy new things. If we didn't have the rec millage, then you got to start looking at where you're going to spend your money on what," he said. "We wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things we do."
Erickson said with the funding from the Recreation Millage, the city was able to put in new dugouts for the ball fields. It was just one project the DPW worked on this summer with millage funds.
City Manager Mary Babcock said if the millage does not pass, the city would need to take from the general fund. "The police and a lot of the city functions come out of the general fund," she said. "That's why the millage was put in place to begin with. It's to help and assist with maintaining these [areas], because it's extremely hard."
Babcock said new additions such as the pickleball courts in Lauren Grove Park would simply not be possible without the millage -- among other new amenities.
"The dog park got personally paid from there. The arena -- that [millage] helped a little bit," she said. "Hancock Trails Club helped build a bike trail which we helped them with."
According to the city's website, the recreation millage was introduced in 2016 and passed with a renewal in 2021. Now up for a second renewal, voters can decide whether or not the city should continue funding these services with extra tax revenue from its residents.
"The city would definitely stand to lose the capability to keep our parks up," Babcock said. "We have a tremendous number of parks -- many of them in neighborhoods."
Erickson added the DPW does not receive any salary from the millage. The parks directly get improvement and maintenance funding from the levy. "It's just for work," he said.
Election Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 3. For more information about your ballot and what kinds of millage requests are in your community, visit mvic.sos.state.mi.us/PublicBallot/Index.
For more information about voting in your community visit, michigan.gov/sos/elections/voting.