It’s not as simple as more taxes vs. less taxes. By state law, the base millage rate declines (rolls back) every year that property values increase, meaning Benzie’s has dropped from the 5.29 mills voters approved in 1982 to just 3.2399 today. At the same time non-negotiable costs for insurance, cyber security, services, equipment, maintenance, and more have skyrocketed. Our tourism numbers have never been higher, but that seasonal swell provides no additional financial support for the increased burden on our roads, sheriff, and 911 services – services that have to be maintained year round to meet three months of need.
So we can hate it, but we can’t wish the problem away.
If the ballot proposal fails, Benzie County would be restricted to collecting its current 3.2399 mills general operating rate (the 2025 tax year levy).
Because state mandate dictates that core constitutional services must stay funded first, this 3.2399 mills rate would effectively be spent up to keep mandated services functioning, while drawing the rest of the general fund budget to zero or near-zero for non-mandated programs and services.
What’s mandated?
• Courts
• Prosecutor
• Clerk
• Treasurer
• Register of Deeds
• 911 / Central Dispatch
• Health Department
• Jail / Lockup
• Elections (at the township level)
What’s on the table?
• Sheriff Road Patrol
• Emergency Management
• Animal Control & Shelter
• Parks & Recreation
• MSU Extension (4H)
• Drug Enforcement
• School Resource Officers
• Economic Development
• Township Fire Protection (where not separately millaged)
• Township Parks & Cemeteries
• Township Zoning & Planning Administration
• Local Road Improvements
Benzie County is one of only a handful in Michigan that does not reset its millage rate at a regular interval of 2 to 4 years. We have kicked our can down the road for 44 years, and while in hindsight that was not a good idea, resetting it back to a number that is still lower than the original rate only represents a return to fiscal sanity, not a tax grab. 
Passing the operating millage, which also would roll in several special millages for an effective increase of just .79, would provide long term operating stability to the County and all the services that make Benzie such a great place to live. This is why the Benzie Area Chamber of Commerce, while traditionally a champion of lower taxes and conditions that favor a healthy business climate, is endorsing a Yes vote on August 4.
