Lady Budgetdown has been handed another receipt.
And this one sent me back to the ledger with my spectacles firmly in place. 📜
Midland Public Schools voters approved a $121.4 million bond in 2015.
The original bond paperwork estimated a 2.95-mill levy in the first year, but it did not say 2.95 mills would be needed forever. In fact, the estimated average annual millage over the life of the debt was approximately 2.71 mills, with the actual levy expected to change as taxable values, interest rates and other circumstances changed.
Fast forward to the district's more recent Form 3881.
For 2026, the district's own debt calculation shows approximately:
Existing debt payments: $6.89 million
Estimated millage needed: 2.19 mills
But Midland Public Schools is levying:
2.50 mills.
That little difference of 0.31 mill may not look particularly exciting sitting quietly in a spreadsheet.
Lady Budgetdown brought out the calculator anyway.
Using the taxable value projected in the same paperwork, that 0.31 mill represents roughly $950,000.
Now, before anyone begins warming up the comment section:
This does NOT mean Midland Public Schools is illegally collecting taxes.
Michigan law allows school debt retirement funds to maintain reserves within statutory limits. There is a very important difference between something being legally permissible and something being financially necessary for this year's debt payment.
And that is precisely where my curiosity begins. Because Midland voters are also being asked this November to approve a new 1.5-mill, 10-year sinking fund.
So I find myself staring at three numbers in the ledger:
2.19 mills — calculated for the existing debt.
2.50 mills — actually being levied.
1.50 mills — additionally being requested from voters this November.
I am not going to tell anyone how to vote.
I am not alleging anything improper.
And I certainly won't manufacture an answer the records don't give me.
I simply think taxpayers are entitled to a very straightforward explanation:
If approximately 2.19 mills is calculated as necessary for the existing 2026 bond debt, why levy 2.50?
What is the additional 0.31 mill being retained for? There may be a perfectly reasonable answer.
But when voters are being asked for additional mills, I rather think the existing mills deserve their own line in the ledger first.
With receipts and respect.
#MidlandPublicSchools #MidlandMichigan #MidlandCounty #SchoolFinance #SchoolMillage #SinkingFund #TaxpayerTransparency #FollowTheMoney #LadyBudgetdown