By admin SAND CREEK — A millage that has provided Sand Creek Community Schools with funds for building and ground maintenance and updates is up for renewal in the Nov. 5 election.
Sand Creek has had a sinking fund millage for more than 25 years. This year’s proposal asks voters to approve a millage rate of 2.6 mills for five years. That is an increase over the what was approved in 2020, when voters approved 1.8414 mills for eight years with 77% voting in favor. Voters are being asked to add on 0.7586 mill to buy buses or other vehicles.
If approved, the owner of property with a taxable value of $100,000 would pay $260 per year for this millage and the district would collect about $433,724 in the first year.
The state law that authorizes sinking funds has been updated to allow the acquisition of student transportation vehicles, Sand Creek Superintendent Sharon Smith said. It also can be used for the acquisition of trucks and vans used in the maintenance of school buildings and the acquisition of parts, supplies and equipment used to maintain those buses, trucks and vans.
Not having to use the general fund to buy buses or do building and site projects helps put the general fund money toward classroom expenses, Smith said.
The millage provides the district with funding beyond what it gets from the state and its nonhomestead operating millage. It can’t be used for salaries or general operations, such as buying classroom supplies.
“There are rules surrounding what you can and can’t use it for that we, by law, have to follow,” Smith said.
The projects paid for from the sinking fund are audited as part of the district’s annual financial review.
“Every invoice out of that sinking fund, everything you did out of it that year, our annual auditors will look at that,” Smith said.
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If approved, the district would buy new buses to replace old ones, starting with two that are 2003 models, according to the district’s website. Building and site projects on the district’s list include:
- Addressing safety issues with student drop-off and pick-up on Gorman Road and the elementary school.
- Additional lighting in parking lots and driveways.
- Roof replacement or repair.
- Parking lot sealcoating and asphalt upkeep.
- Continue replacing windows.
- Junior high gym floor.
- Continue replacing older elementary classroom floors, including asbestos removal.
- Replace the elementary septic system
- Improve drainage at the softball field.
- Video and sound system for the junior high gym for concerts, plays and other programs.
- Add air conditioning to district classrooms to improve air flow and learning conditions.
- Storage room, walk-in cooler and freezer units at the elementary school.
Some of the projects Sand Creek has used its sinking fund for in the past include roof, ceiling and floor replacements; electrical and plumbing updates; new boilers; masonry repairs; indoor and outdoor lighting upgrades; and replacing restroom items, such as stall partitions.
Without the sinking fund, “we would struggle to be able to make upgrades and do a lot of those improvements that we need to to take care of our facility,” Smith said. “Without that, it would have to try to come out of our general fund money, and then that would take away from other expenses that directly would affect our classrooms. So, in the end, it’s extremely helpful.”
Early voting has started and runs through Sunday, Nov. 3. Sand Creek voters who live in Fairfield Township can vote from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at the township office, 1023 Pine St. in Jasper. All other SC voters can vote from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at the Human Services Building, 1040 S. Winter St. in Adrian.
Absentee ballots can be dropped off at city and township clerk’s offices until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5, or brought to the voter’s early voting location while it is open.
Polls will be open on Election Day, Nov. 5, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Find your polling place, check your registration or view a sample ballot for your jurisdiction at mi.gov/vote.
— Contact reporter David Panian at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.