Flint, MI– With a very low voter turnout, Flint residents approved the two millage renewals, for public safety and public transportation, on the May 4 special election ballot.
Flint and Genesee County residents also approved the two county-wide millage items on the ballot.
For Flint, only 6.36% of registered voters cast their ballots in the special election on May 4. This made for a total of 4,773 ballots cast.
Of those who did vote, 81.99% of them voted in favor of renewing the Flint City Police and Fire Protection Millage.
This millage is 6 mills, or $6.00 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value, and is used for the purpose of funding police and fire protection. Since this is a renewal, it will not result in any tax increase for residents.
Both Mayor Sheldon Neeley and Police Chief Terence Green encouraged Flint residents to support this millage which funds police officer positions.
The Flint City Public Transportations Services Millage Renewal was also approved by close to 82%.
This millage is .60 mills, or $0.60 per $1,000, and is used to fund public transportation services in Flint by the Flint Mass Transportation Authority.
There were also two county-wide millage items on the ballot: a 911 surcharge, and a Genesee Health System’s Community Mental Health Millage.
Of all registered voters in Genesee County, 12.67% of them cast their ballots in the special election. This made for a total of 43,458 ballots cast.
The renewal of the 911 Surcharge, a charge of $1.86 a month on all landline, wireless, and voice over the internet protocol service users in the country, passed with 61.04% of voters supporting it.
According to a release on the Genesee County 911 website, this surcharge funds everything for the Genesee County 911 Dispatch Authority, and is their only source of income.
The Genesee Health System’s Community Mental Health Millage, aimed at improving mental health services to the county, passed with 54.79% of voters supporting it.
This is a ten-year millage of 0.94 mills, or $0.94 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value, which would bring in about $9.5 million annually.
According to the GHS website, the funds would be used in seven core areas which include law enforcement mental health response teams, court mental health services, suicide and crisis prevention, and crisis de-escalation in the K-12 community.