Pro-millage group looks to get the word out

Oxford parents Julie Fracker (from left), Erica DiCosmo and Korey Bailey will be distributing campaign literature promoting Oxford Schools' non-homestead operating millage proposal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Photo by C.J. Carnacchio.
Oxford parents Julie Fracker (from left), Erica DiCosmo and Korey Bailey will be distributing campaign literature promoting Oxford Schools’ non-homestead operating millage proposal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Photo by C.J. Carnacchio.

It’s often been said those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Erica DiCosmo, Korey Bailey and Julie Fracker are taking that well-known aphorism to heart.

These three parents of Oxford students are working hard to ensure the school district’s two non-homestead millage proposals on the Nov. 8 ballot do not meet the same fate as the one that failed by 61 votes in early August.

“If you like the school (district) and you want it to continue on the path it’s (on), we need to pass this,” Bailey said. “Why wouldn’t you support it?”

They are coordinating “Citizens for Oxford Community Schools,” a registered, pro-millage campaign committee formed on Aug. 17. The committee’s next meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15 in the community room at the village municipal complex (22 W. Burdick St.). Meetings are held there every other Thursday.

“It’s open to anyone that wants to come in and help,” said Fracker, who believes this is “too important of a cause” to do nothing.

When school district voters go to the polls for the general election, they’ll be asked to decide on a 10-year renewal of the 17.8078-mill operating tax on all non-homestead property in the school district. If approved, it would generate an estimated $5.187 million in the first year.

Voters will also be asked to decide on a 10-year restoration request to increase that same operating tax by 0.1922 mill in order to raise it back to the maximum 18 mills the state assumes school districts are levying on non-homestead property. If approved, the tax increase would generate an estimated $55,388 in the first year.

One mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.

The current operating tax expires this year. Without a successful renewal, it cannot be collected starting next year and the district loses approximately $5 million annually. The state will not replace this lost revenue.

“It’s an important millage,” Fracker said. “It would have a dramatic effect on the future operations of the district if it doesn’t pass and I just don’t think anybody really understood that (during the last election).”

DiCosmo, Bailey and Fracker can’t pull the entire campaign load on their own, so they’re seeking volunteers and donations to help spread the word and encourage people to vote yes. They need contributions to have campaign signs and literature printed. They also need people who are willing to go door-to-door to talk with voters and answer questions.

“We’ll take any bit of help we can get,” Bailey said.

Volunteers and donors can register online by visiting www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d48a5a72ba4f58-support.

The trio believes a lack of publicity and public awareness is what doomed the Aug. 2 non-homestead operating tax proposal, which was a combined renewal and increase.

It failed 1,984 to 1,923.

“No one really knew it was on the ballot,” said DiCosmo, who pointed to the fact that “hardly anybody” voted on the issue.

Less than 4,000 people voted in a school district that’s 96 square miles and encompasses parts of six townships spanning two counties.

“People didn’t know about it. People didn’t know what it was, what it meant,” Bailey said. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know that much about it, but I knew it was for the schools. It simply just didn’t get promoted.”

“I think there were a lot of people that didn’t know about it,” Fracker said. “They didn’t realize it was up for renewal. They didn’t have any information on it and so, a lot of people didn’t vote that would have (otherwise) voted in favor of (it).”

Bailey believes many voters didn’t understand that non-homestead taxes are not levied against the homes they own and live in full-time. “So many people that I’ve talked to think that it’s a new millage and their property taxes are going up,” he said.

But that’s not the case.

State law allows districts to levy up to 18 mills on non-homestead properties, which include businesses, commercial and industrial properties, second homes, vacation homes, rental properties and vacant land not adjacent to an owner’s homestead property.

Oxford district voters first approved an 18-mill, non-homestead tax in 1996, then renewed it in 2006.

Exempt from the operating tax are principal residential (homestead) and qualified agricultural properties.

DiCosmo speculated another reason the millage failed is because there’s still “a lot of hurt” out there generated by the decisions and actions of the “previous (district) administration” and this caused a backlash against the schools at the ballot box.

She believes people need to put the past behind them and move forward.

“I think the community needs to heal,” DiCosmo said. “I see this (millage) passing as part of a healing process.”

In light of the millage failure, the district is facing the prospect of losing approximately $5 million in tax revenue annually and being forced to cut its general fund budget by approximately 10 percent for the 2017-18 school year and beyond.

“A cut that deep would be felt significantly across the board,” Fracker said.

DiCosmo is concerned how that would impact her two daughters, an eighth-grader and a high school freshman.

“My girls are only in the district for five more years, then they graduate,” she said. “I don’t want their last five years to be full of cuts. They’ve had too much given to them to get it taken away.”

She noted her freshman daughter has been playing the viola since fourth grade and is currently involved in the orchestra program. DiCosmo is worried about the future of the program because “traditionally,” when school districts have to make cuts, “the first thing to go is the arts program.”

“That’s her thing. That’s what she loves to do,” she said. “I just can’t bear to see that taken from her.”

DiCosmo is also concerned about the athletics budget being cut because both her daughters are cheerleaders.

Bailey’s eighth-grade daughter has plans to join the high school swim team next year, but he’s worried there won’t be a team if the millages don’t pass.

“In all reality, (athletics and arts) are the ones that get cut first,” he said. “Swim teams are not that big of a priority.”

But Bailey doesn’t believe his daughter should have to suffer because not enough people voted or the millage proposal wasn’t adequately publicized. “It’s not her fault that we didn’t get this passed,” he said.

Bailey admitted his daughter and her love for the schools is a “big motivator” for him and that’s why he’s spearheading this campaign. “She’s been here since fourth grade (and) she’s had one absence,” he said.

“We moved back to Oxford just for the schools,” Bailey noted.

The biggest thing for DiCosmo, Bailey and Fracker is encouraging people to participate in the Nov. 8 election.

“I know we have concerned and engaged parents in Oxford – we just need to get them to the polls in November,” Fracker said.

“I would love to see everyone get out and vote,” DiCosmo said. “Make your votes count.”

To help spread the word about the millage proposals and promote all the virtues of Oxford Schools and the community in general, DiCosmo started a Facebook page entitled, “Oxford Schools: The Future Starts Now.”

“I’m looking for the page to take on a positive feel, instead of the negativity that comes off of the ‘TEAM 20’ or the ‘Don’t Privatize Oxford!’ (Facebook) pages,” she said. “I’d rather (people) see the positive things in Oxford than the negative.”

The page has close to 600 “likes.”

 

4 responses to “Pro-millage group looks to get the word out”

  1. Please Oxford Voters get out and vote for our children! This is a very necessary miliage. This miliage is not going to raise our taxes they will stay the same for residents.

  2. Welcome to the Boston tea party taxation without representation. Lets say your elderly parents pass and you rent out their house you live in Lake Orion, you can’t even vote. This tax should be shared between all properties in Oxford School District.

  3. Joan – How ’bout you sell the house to someone who actually wants to live in Oxford ?!? It’s a hot property market right now and should sell easily !
    #problemsolved

  4. I agree with Joan. Hey, this really looks like its leaning toward discriminatory taxation, doesn’t it? You Oxford homeowners are not willing to tax yourselves, but you want to tax just the non residents that do not fall under the homestead act as well as local businesses. Don’t you feel a little bit guilty? Wait…I think we should start a new tax, only taxing homestead property owners that own 2 1/2 acres and less, and only those that live in Oxford. That tax will go to support Addison Township Parks (remember, your kids can always use our parks). Yep, that would work.
    I’m sure I will hear negative comments from Oxford Homestead owners, but I bet you will not get one negative comment from those YOU want to single out and tax.
    Shame on you.

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