KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A new proposal for a public housing program millage will be on the ballot for the November election, as approved by Kalamazoo County Commissioners Wednesday night.
During a virtual meeting, commissioners discussed the measure, which is meant to help curb homelessness throughout Kalamazoo County.
Commissioner John Gisler asked why this should be a ballot initiative, rather than using money from the County’s own budget.
“I don’t question for a minute that we’ve got issues with housing and that we need to do more to resolve the problem that has been ongoing ever since I’ve been a commissioner,” Gisler said. “But I’m taking the position that our budget is around $110 million dollars. If we need to spend more money on housing, let’s find that in the existing budget and not ask the people to pay more.”
Aniano countered this notion by asking why money in the budget hadn’t been used for this purpose beforehand.
“If the money exists, why hasn’t it been used to address this issue?” Aniano asked. “In addition, we’re dealing with a pandemic which has brought to light the severity of the homeless issue in Kalamazoo County. Kids are going to have to be schooled from their homes, they’re gonna need a safe place to educate while we’re trying to do this social distancing on less money from the government from schools. Now is a good time as any to ask people to try and find it in their heart to help a little bit more.”
She said that the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the issues surrounding housing and other basic needs not being met.
Commissioner Christine Morse pointed out that there isn’t much money in the budget that could be used for these purposes.
“Last year, the wiggle room that we were told we had was $125,000,” Morse said. “Unless we’re talking about a major re-prioritization of where all of our funding is going, I don’t really see that there’s gonna be a lot of funding to find.”
Morse also pointed to the pandemic as a factor in the millage proposal.
“We are in a global pandemic, which is uncovering even further how unequal our society is,” Morse said. “I’m hoping people will find it in their hearts to say that ‘I care for my fellow man, and I’d like to see people are appropriately housed to the extent that we can,’ so I will be in favor of letting the people of this county decide.”
Commissioner Zach Bauer also spoke in favor of putting this millage proposal on the next ballot.
“We could, at the end of this next election, start addressing the homelessness and lack of affordable housing in every one of our districts a year ahead of time, so there would be more affordable housing and more jobs in all of our districts,” Bauer said. “There is really no downside to this. It is for the voters to decide whether they want to pay this tax, we are giving them the opportunity to do this.”
Ultimately, the ballot passed in a 9 to 1 vote. Residents of Kalamazoo County will now decide whether this millage should be adopted when they head to the polls in November.
