The city of Brighton’s total millage rate will go up in the coming year, according to city Finance Director Gretchen Gomolka. That’s despite the fact that the city is being required to impose a Headlee Tax Limitation Amendment rollback for the first time in 13 years. A Headlee rollback occurs when property values rise faster than the inflation rate.

According to the US Labor Dept., the inflation rate – also called the consumer price index – rose 2% between April of 2018 and April of this year. Those are the most recent months for which statistics are available. However, the 2% is less than the rate by which property values rose in the city of Brighton in the last year, and, as a result, the city will be required to roll back the millage rate. But there’s a caveat.

The rollback is more than offset by passage of a voter-approved 2.5-mill request in May for funds to improve the city’s streets. That increase is expected to generate $1.15 million per year over the next seven years for the city’s streets, sidewalks and curbs. Gomolka tells WHMI that the millage increase for the coming year will be 2.48 mills.

Gomolka says that for the owner of a $150,000 home – the average assessed value of a house in the city – that would amount to a property tax increase of $187 per year. However, she says that home values vary greatly in Brighton, depending on the location, the size of the home, and other factors, so a person’s city taxes could go up more or less, depending. The new millage rate will go into effect on July 1. (TT)