Grosse Pointe schools operating millage on primary ballot

GROSSE POINTES/HARPER WOODS — As voters cast their ballots in the Aug. 6 primary, Grosse Pointe Public School System officials hope they’ll vote in favor of the district’s operating millage.

Voters will be deciding whether or not to allow the district to levy up to 18 mills — the statutory limit — for general operations. Everything from salaries for teachers and staff to building maintenance and educational programs is covered by this millage.

GPPSS Superintendent Andrea Tuttle said the operating millage request represents “no tax increase for homeowners.”

“This is a renewal — this is not a new tax,” Tuttle said during a Board of Education meeting May 28 at Brownell Middle School in Grosse Pointe Farms.

The millage would raise an estimated $22.4 million in its first year. The district’s total budget is roughly $101 million.

For homeowners, the rate is capped at 7.5337 mills. By law, the district can only levy the amount of the millage needed to enable the district to get its full per-pupil foundation allowance; currently, that amount is 3.7113 mills.

The millage question calls for an increase to 20 mills for non-homestead property, but no more than 18 mills can be levied. Tuttle said they’re building in a cushion in the event of millage rollbacks.

“Any time a rollback happens, you want to have a cushion,” Tuttle said.

For those who own commercial, business, industrial, rental and other non-homestead property, the maximum levy is 18 mills. Commercial personal property is exempt from 12 of those 18 mills. School officials explained that the district must levy the 18 mills to receive its full per-pupil allowance from the state.

Officials say the operating millage represents a critical portion of the district’s annual budget and without it, the district couldn’t operate its current schools and programs.

“If this doesn’t pass, the school district as we know it doesn’t exist,” Board member Ahmed Ismail said May 28.

Tuttle said the district collects its last operating millage payment in December 2024. The renewal, if approved, would take effect in 2025 and would run for five years, until December 2029.

The operating millage is not the same as the sinking fund millage. The district is slated to seek approval for a sinking fund millage in November.

More information about the operating millage can be found on the GPPSS website, www.gpschools.org.