Replacement millage
CCISD ballot proposal
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HANCOCK -- Voters across the Copper Country Intermediate School District (CCISD) will decide on a special education millage replacement proposal during the upcoming general election on Tuesday.
David Sim, CCISD public engagement specialist, said the ballot measure requests a 20-year authorization of 0.2903 mills, running from 2027 through 2046. The proposal functions as a strict replacement levy designed to prevent a funding interruption when the district’s active 2007 millage allocation expires next year.
Kristina Penfold, director of Special Education, said the reason for the replacement is because the current millage is set to expire at the end of the year.
“It’s a technicality, a matter of timing," Penfold said. "Because the current millage expires in December, there’s a legal requirement that we can no longer call it a renewal.”
Under Michigan law, a school district or government entity can only place a "renewal" on a ballot if the tax is currently active and being collected. Because the current 2007 millage is written to expire at the end of December, the district is legally allowed to levy and collect it on the winter tax bills. However, because the upcoming November election is voting on funding for the subsequent tax cycle, the original 2007 legal resolution will have formally expired.
The measure represents a tax rate freeze and will not increase existing property tax rates for the taxpayers within the CCISD, Sim said. The millage equals 0.29 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. On $100,000 that equates to $29.03 per year.
"This millage request is for the exact same millage rate. It is not going to raise the tax rate or anything like that," Sim said. "All this request asks is to replace the expiring millage for the next 20 years."
Sim said the millage is dedicated strictly to special education and supports critical specialist services across throughout the Intermediate School District, as well as the ISD's own special education programs and services.
"Through the millage, all 14 districts have access to special education services, including the staff supports them, like the therapists, and some of the people who share services across multiple districts," Sim said. "That's one of the ways that we achieve efficiencies."
In the event the millage proposal fails, Sim said the state of Michigan mandates require uninterrupted special education services, which would force the financial burden onto the individual school districts.
"There could be changes to services and some of the students may not have access to the specialists they need as readily, or some of the important technology pieces that they use to communicate, that help give them opportunities to learn to the best of their ability."