By WKTV Staff
The Kent County Board of Commissioners’ Veterans Millage Renewal Subcommittee, led by City of Wyoming’s (District 8) commissioner Dan Burrill, held an initial meeting in December to discuss and begin action on a planned August 2022 countywide vote on the renewal of an existing Veterans Millage first passed in 2014.
The meeting included several local veterans groups but was focused on the work of the Kent County Veterans Services (KCVS) office and its associated Veterans Services Advisory Committee. The KVCS provides dedicated services to veterans of active United States military service and their dependents, with a current staff of nine full- or part-time employees under the direction of manager Martha Burkett and including six veterans who provide direct service and a contract Veteran Support Coordinator who is also a veteran.
A second meeting of the group was set for will be Tuesday, Jan. 18, from 1-3 p.m., in room 311 of the Kent County Administrative Building, downtown Grand Rapids, at 300 Monroe Avenue NW. (and not at the KCVS building on Fuller Avenue).
The meetings are open to the public, veterans and non-veterans alike, according to supplied material.
The decision to take the renewal request to the voters would eventually need to be approved by the Board of Commissioners.
In November 2014, Kent County voters approved a Dedicated Veterans Millage, an eight year, 0.05 mills tax that, at that time, would raise about $1 million a year and was estimated to cost the owner of a $200,000 home approximately $5 annually, according to the county website.
Due to several factors — including the 1978, voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution which included a number of provisions related to state and local taxes and now commonly known as the Headlee Amendment — the actual tax collection decreased from 0.05 mills to 0.0482 in 2021.
Statewide, 51 of Michigan’s 83 counties posted a millage dedicated to veterans in 2020.
For more information on the Kent County Veterans Services visit here.
