COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Voters in the Coldwater Community School District will be asked Tuesday to renew the building and site sinking fund millage that would replace the current millage which expires in December 2020. But a change in the state law that went into effect in 2016 has led to some confusion about the proposal.
District officials have been trying to convince voters that although it’s a renewal of the current annual millage of .9740 mills, they have to call it a new millage thanks to the state law change.
Superintendent Terry Whelan says the law expanded the use of what a sinking fund can be used for. Sinking fund dollars can now be used for instructional technology and security.
The millage proposal on Tuesday’s ballot would not take effect until the old millage expires next year. Sinking funds can only be used by school districts for building repairs and major maintenance expenses. The Coldwater school district has had the sinking fund millage for 20 years.
In addition, voters in the Tekonsha school district will be asked to renew a sinking fund millage in their district for eight years.
Voters in the Reading School District will be deciding a $6.5 million bonding question on Tuesday for the purpose of remodeling school buildings and improving and equipping playgrounds.
Voters in the St. Joseph County Intermediate School District will be asked to approve the establishment of an area career and technical education program, with an annual property tax of no more than one mill for ten years.
