By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


The Brighton Area Schools will place a proposal to restore the full 18 mills of property taxes on non-Homestead properties on the November general election ballot.

The 2.2-mill proposal would be for 13 years, from 2020-2032. The Board of Education unanimously approved putting the override question on the ballot at its meeting last week. The millage would only affect industrial, commercial and investment property, along with vacation homes and rental properties. The millage rate on a person’s primary residence would not be affected by the Headlee override.

Defeat of the override request would require the district to levy a rolled back millage of less than 18 mills. On the other hand, passage of the 2.2-mill proposal would give the district a hedge against potential Headlee rollbacks in the future. The district would only levy the amount necessary to bring the non-homestead tax up to the full 18 mills.

The Headlee Tax Limitation Amendment to the Michigan Constitution, passed by the voters in 1978, limits the amount of property tax increase to the inflation rate or 5 per cent — whichever is lower. The inflation rate in 2019 was 2.3%. Since the end of the “great recession” that started in 2008, property values in the school district have risen much faster than the inflation rate, which would necessitate a rollback — without a voter-approved override.