As a follow up to my post regarding the August 5th Wayne County Enhancement Millage and its effect on the Sinking Fund vote, here is a report issued by the Grosse Pointe Public School System administration cross referencing the projected revenues of the Sinking Fund with that of the Wayne County Enhancement millage.
GPPSS Millage Projection Comparison by Brendan Walsh
Not a great deal of surprise here, with one exception.
The Enhancement millage deliver a tax revenue yield increase of about $300,000 over the Sinking Fund, but that extra $300,000 would cost GPPSS taxpayers about $2.6 million, or about the equivalent of 1 mill.
Since the Board of Education is poised to not seek renewal of the Sinking Fund if the Enhancement Millage passes, this basically means that taxes will increase by 1 mill and aggregate revenue will (on a like for like basis) will increase just 0.03%. As covered before, the Enhancement Millage revenue is not constricted the way to Sinking Fund revenue is, so there would be other benefits, but certainly not enough to justify a full mill.
No real news in all that. The public voices, including the Board’s and a majority of the seven November Board of Education candidates oppose the Enhancement Millage and would not seek Sinking Fund renewal if the Enhancement Millage is successful.
What is more newsworthy in the above district report is the projected loss of 250 more students over the next 6 years. That’s a projection of the loss of about $2.5 million. This continues the pattern of declining enrollment that the district has seen now for the last ten years. I highlighted that specifically in my most recently published Financial Benchmark Report.
I’ve talked in great detail about the impact of declining enrollment in the past. This, too, is a great topic of discussion as we enter the election season. With almost all district revenues tied to student enrollment, this is a major issue. I encourage the community to make this a discussion topic during this election cycle.