HARRISON: ONE LAST LOOK UNDER THE HOOD
Dearest reader,
We have followed Harrison Community Schools' ledger from where the money comes from, to where it goes.
But before Your Lady closes this particular ledger, there were two final pages worth turning. 📖🧐
First: that rather hefty $5.6 million "Purchased Services" line.
At first glance, $5.6 million deserves a raised eyebrow. Perhaps both eyebrows. But this is precisely why we do not stop at the headline number.
Harrison's own 2024–25 state transparency reporting breaks it down:
🔹 $3,104,306 — Professional & Technical Purchased Services
🔹 $918,307 — Client/Pupil Transportation Purchased Services
🔹 $593,690 — Other Purchased Services
🔹 $991,021 — Payments to Other Public School Districts
Together: $5,607,324.
The independent audit reports purchased services at $5,607,325.
A difference of precisely one dollar.
Your Lady believes the abacus may survive. 🧮
And there is an important bit of context buried in the fine print: when a school district outsources employees or functions, those expenses can appear under purchased services rather than salaries and benefits. Harrison's check register does, in fact, show substantial recurring payments to outside service providers.
In other words, "Professional & Technical Services" should not automatically be read as $3.1 million worth of consultants.
Receipts first. Conclusions second.
Then we arrive at the reason many Harrison residents are looking at these numbers in the first place:
🗳� THE 18-MILL QUESTION.
This is a non-homestead operating millage. It applies to taxable non-homestead property, not a homeowner's principal residence, and helps fund the district's everyday operations.
And here's an important distinction:
18 mills is the authorization.
For tax year 2025, Harrison actually levied 17.9478 mills on non-homestead property. When the renewal appeared before voters in August 2026, district officials estimated that it would generate approximately $6.1 million annually. Voters rejected that proposal, 1,524–1,249.
The question is returning to voters in November.
And no, if the operating millage disappears, the State of Michigan does not simply write Harrison another $5–6 million check to make the district whole. The non-homestead levy is part of the local component of
Michigan's school-funding structure.
That doesn't mean Your Lady is holding up a YES sign.
It doesn't mean she's holding up a NO sign either.
It means voters deserve to understand what they're voting on, how much money is involved, where the
district's money currently goes, and what the financial consequences are.
That was the purpose of this little Harrison rabbit hole from the beginning. 🐇
And after four graphics, an independent audit, state financial data, district transparency reports and a 33-page check register, I think we have a considerably clearer picture than the one we started with.
No campaign slogan required.
Just the ledger. 📖
Because Your Lady doesn't lead the receipts.
She lets the receipts lead her.
👑 Lady Budgetdown
With receipts and respect.
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