The Detroit Public Library system relies on this millage for 89% of its operational budget. Their annual budget is around $30 million per year to support 21 branches and the main library. Without this millage, our library system will perish.
Today, tax captures are taking nearly 20% of the library millage, despite a stipulation in the language of the voter-approved millage that caps the rate of captures at 5%. Meanwhile some neighborhood library branches are closed, and many need maintenance or lack compliance with federal ADA accessibility regulations.
Between 2014 and 2022 tax captures have taken a total of $23.5M from the Detroit Public Library.
What else could this missing $23.5M have bought us? It could have done ALL of the following:
All other library systems in Michigan are protected from tax captures by state law. Only Detroit is subjected to this injustice.
Since 2014, tax captures enacted by the DEGC have stolen $90.4M from Detroit’s schools to fund glitzy downtown development, while schools in the neighborhoods have rats, roaches, asbestos, and mold.
Literacy rates and test scores in Detroit are among the lowest in the state. M-STEP scores from 2023 reveal that only 12.4% of 3rd-graders throughout the district can read at or above their grade level. And our schools still struggle for basic needs like classroom supplies, paying teachers, busses, and building maintenance.
School libraries were taken away by the emergency manager over a decade ago, and have never been reinstated. DPSCD is currently under new budget cuts.
That $90.4M could have paid the salaries of 52 teachers over the nine year period that it was captured from the schools' operating millage.
It is impossible to ignore the obvious, racialized effects of this missing money, and yet neither the school board, Superintendent Vitti, Mayor Duggan, nor the local media will talk about it.
The affluent white newcomers to Detroit are also silent because they do not send their kids to the crumbling public schools, but to the charter schools—which even have air conditioning!
From 2014 to 2022, the Downtown Development Authority has tax captured $57.9M from the DPSCD millage to repay the schools’ debt.
Our schools are already hampered by the onerous bond debt that they have been saddled with since emergency management. In fact we are still paying off bond debt on some schools that have already been demolished! The unconscionable act of taking money away from this millage forces the schools to stay in debt longer than they should, unfairly burdening Detroit taxpayers.
Combined with the captures from the DPSCD Operational Millage, this amounts to over $150M taken from our schools' funding stream in just nine years.
There are three millages for Wayne RESA, the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency. It is a regional educational service agency that offers a wide range of services and support to the 33 school districts and 99 public school academies in Wayne County.
This includes “special needs” education, and ensuring that all students with disabilities (such as autism) receive a free and appropriate public education. Some of the money goes to Detroit Public Schools for that purpose.
Between 2014 and 2022 alone, $28.5M has been tax captured from the Wayne RESA millages by the DEGC. That money could have paid the salaries of 55 therapists, pathologists, social workers, and nurses—for nine years—and still had $25M leftover!
Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC tax captured $17.7M from the millage to fund the Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD). The millage raises only about $22M per year from taxpayers to fund the college system.
The voter-approved wording of a ballot proposal is considered binding legal language…for that much of our money to be diverted to other things not specified in the language of the millage seems illegal, and is definitely unjust.
The Wayne County Community College mostly serves working class Detroit students; 3 of its 5 campuses are located in Detroit, which means that it is mostly black, Detroit students who are harmed by these tax captures. In fact the college was founded in 1967 as a black institution, in the wake of the Rebellion that summer.
Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC tax captured $42.3M from the State Education Tax, a millage which goes toward general statewide education funding.
An article in BridgeDetroit from August 24th, 2023 cried that “Michigan Teachers are Still Scrounging for Classroom Supplies,” according to the headline.
$42.3M would buy a lot of school supplies. Teachers spend hundreds of dollars each year buying supplies for their classroom. School districts are supposed to supply basic necessities, but parents are still asked to donate items like tissue and hand sanitizer. Why should we do that when we already pay a tax for these things to be provided in schools?
This is the basic city tax that we pay for such services as busses, parks, rec centers, elections, police, fire, and EMS, the city airport, the Health Department, payroll for city workers, etc. Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC has tax captured $105.2M from this millage.
That money could have done ALL of the following:
Between 2014 and 2022, the Downtown Development Authority has tax captured $42.4M from the millage to pay down remaining city debt owed as part of the municipal bankruptcy.
This tax capture represents money that’s supposed to be spent on paying off that debt, in compliance with the terms of the bankruptcy, but instead it’s being spent on private downtown development projects. The act of taking money away from this millage forces the city to stay in debt longer than it should, and unfairly burdens Detroit taxpayers. It is unconscionable.
Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC has tax captured $31.2M from the Wayne County General Fund millage.
This is the money Detroiters pay to the County for basic governmental functions, and services like road maintenance, and operating Metro Airport. Not only do tax captures hurt Detroit’s pocketbook, but they also hurt Wayne County’s pocketbook because the taxes Detroit residents should be paying to the county are not getting where they are supposed to go.
$31.2M could have paid a lot of plow drivers. In fact that amount is $1.2M greater than Wayne County Roads’ entire budget for one year.
Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC has tax captured almost a quarter million dollars from the millage that funds the Wayne County Parks System.
For instance, Chandler Park on Detroit's east side is funded by this millage, as well as other parks Detroiters might enjoy outside of the city—like Hines Park, or Elizabeth Park.
The result of this tax capture is that the fair share Detroiters pay into the operation of these parks is reduced, compared with what suburban taxpayers contribute.
The millage on your tax bill labelled “HCMA PARK” represents money stolen from the millage meant to fund the general operating budget of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks. Between 2014 and 2022, the DEGC has tax captured $1.1M from this millage, on top of what it takes from the Wayne County's parks.
Between 2015 and 2022, the Local Development Finance Authority of the DEGC has tax captured just under one million dollars of our money from the millage to fund the Wayne County Jail and juvenile detention facilities.
The jail has been in the news for years due to understaffing, overcrowding, and lack of heat in the winter. The juvenile hall was in the news in 2023 for inhumane conditions.
While Detroiters For Tax Justice does not support carceral punishment, we believe tax captures are contributing to the problem of inhumane conditions in our detention facilities—which we strongly oppose.
The Detroit Zoo, Detroit Institute of Arts, and DDA millages are explicitly exempted from tax capture under the provisions of PA 57 of 2018. Why?
Because the Zoo and DIA are utilized by suburbanites and tourists—mainly white folks. Meanwhile, the schools, libraries, jail, and community college primarily utilized by black people are being looted. This illustrates the racist nature of tax captures, and of the DEGC. Only in Detroit is this level of austerity and avarice applied against the people; tax captures are wealth redistribution, mainly affecting poor and brown-skinned residents while simultaneously lightening the economic burden for affluent newcomers and businessmen. This is white supremacy in action.
By the way, the DDA millage (levied only on downtown residents) funds the Downtown Development Authority—which is one of the tax capturing authorities under the DEGC. Naturally they would never dream of tax capturing their own millage.
Detroiters For Tax Justice
P.O. Box 34040, Detroit, MI 48234
Copyright © 2024 Detroiters For Tax Justice - All Rights Reserved.
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