Ann Arbor Public Schools -  May 6, 2008
Facts About the Restoration of the School Operating Millage

1.    Q:    What do you mean by Non-Homestead Property?
A:    Non-Homestead is defined as, but not all inclusive of, industrial and commercial property, rental and seasonal homes.

2.    Q:    What is the impact of the Headlee rollback?
A:    The district has recently experienced a rollback of .03 mills (non-homestead) to the current level of 17.97 mills.  As a result, the district lost $97,817 in funding in the current fiscal year.

3.    Q:    What caused the rollback to occur?
A:    The district’s non-homestead taxable value (after adjusting for additions and losses) increased faster than the rate of inflation.

4.    Q:    What happens if the millage is not increased?
A:    Rollbacks have a compounding effect.  Passage of the millage renewals is required in order for the Ann Arbor Public Schools to receive its full allocation of operating funds from the Michigan legislature. In the absence of new millage authority, the amount of lost revenue will increase each year until the expiration date of 2009.

5.    Q:    Won’t the state make up the difference?
A:    No.  Under school finance reform, the state does not make up the lost revenue.  The district’s state aid is paid as though we are levying the full 18 mills on non-homesteads.

6.    Q:    What is the impact on the non-homestead taxpayer?
A:    In the first year of the millage, the impact would be 18.00/$1,000 of taxable valuation which is only .03 mill more than non-homestead tax payers are paying now.

7.    Q:    Will this millage have an impact on homeowners?
A:    The majority of millage will be levied on non-homestead property; only 12.4675 mills will be authorized to be levied on owner occupied homes in 2010.  Currently only 4.7232 mills is levied on primary residences to hold the Ann Arbor Public Schools harmless. The owner of a home with a market value of $200,000 and a taxable value of $100,000 pays $472 in taxes per year as a result of this millage.

8.    Q:    Will this proposal change my assessed valuation?
A.    No.  Proposal A placed a cap on the annual increase in valuation of an individual property of inflation or 5%, whichever is less.  The cap continues unless the property is sold or improved.

9.    Q:    What is meant by “Hold harmless”?
A:     A school district was considered hold harmless if their per pupil allocation was greater than $6,500 per student in fiscal year 1995 ($8,433 in fiscal year 2008). AAPS hold harmless portion of the per pupil allocation is $1,234.  In fiscal year 2008 AAPS levied 4.7232 mills in order to generate this amount.