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August election, millage requests draw near

ESCANABA — Some Delta County residents will have an opportunity to vote on millage proposals early next month. Ballot items include a sinking fund millage in townships served by the Mid Peninsula School District, as well as a millage renewal proposal in Cornell Township. Elections have been set for Tuesday, Aug. 6, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.

“For the August election, there’s only two things on the ballot,” Delta County Clerk Nancy Przewrocki said.

One of these items is a sinking fund millage proposal for the Mid Peninsula School District. Voters in this district — which includes the townships of Baldwin and Maple Ridge in Delta County and Ewing and Turin in Marquette County — will be asked if they are in favor of increasing the limitation on the amount of taxes that can be assessed against all property in the district by an amount not to exceed two mills, or $2 for each $1,000 of taxable value, from 2019 to 2028. The board of education would also be allowed to levy this amount if the millage request is approved.

This would allow for the creation of a sinking fund, which would be used for the construction or repair of school buildings, school security improvements, the acquisition or upgrading of technology and all other purposes authorized by law. If the proposal is approved, the district would collect about $156,557 in 2019.

There will also be a special election for an operating millage renewal proposal in Cornell Township from 2019 to 2023. If approved by voters, the millage would be renewed at one mill, or $1 per $1,000 of taxable value. While this will ­technically be reduced to .9994 mills — or $0.99 per $1,000 of taxable value — due to millage rollbacks required by the Headlee Amendment, the millage proposal calls for the renewal to be increased to match the original amount of one mill. If approved by voters, the renewed millage would raise about $23,678 in its first year.

Despite the relatively low number of items on ballots for Delta County’s August 2019 special election, Przewrocki said preparing for the election still involves a significant amount of work — particularly for clerks on the local level.

“We have to go through all of the same steps we do for a big election,” she said.

As part of this process, Przewrocki said she and the townships involved must test voting equipment, register voters and appoint election workers.

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