KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Tuesday, May 3 is an election day. No one will be elected but there are several funding measures on the ballot in Kalamazoo County. The only one on all County ballots will be the Law Enforcement millage renewal.
All county voters will have an opportunity to renew a critical law enforcement funding measure that helps support the County’s criminal Justice system.
There are also millage requests in the Kalamazoo, Comstock, Gull Lake, Climax-Scotts and Vicksburg school districts. Kalamazoo City Clerk Scott Borling says for details and to check up on your voter status, you should go to http://vote.org online.
“If you’r not voting absentee, check your voter registration status and your polling location. And if you have questions about that and have a plan, get out and vote,” said Borling.
Only the Comstock measure calls for a tax hike of half a mil. The rest are renewals.
Because of the impact of the pandemic on elections, a large portion of all votes have already been cast with absentee ballots.
The largest funding issue on the ballot this time around is the $197-million dollar bond renewal put on the ballot by the Kalamazoo School Board.
It won’t cost voters any more than they pay now in taxes. It simply will replace a bond issue that is about to expire. It’s been in place to fund school maintenance, equipment and technology replacements and upgrades which have been critical in getting the district through the pandemic. Officials say that it will also fix roofs, replace buses, repave parking lots and remodel aging buildings.
Executive Assistant Karen Jackson oversees the preparation of the list, and its execution.
“There is so much that excites me,” said Jackson. “This touches ever space, this touches every building.”
Jackson went onto say that they will be upgrading school security systems and H-VAC systems and replacing aging portable classrooms with real ones.
“Students have to leave the building and go out into the cold, go out into the snow, put their coats on to go out to class. We’re going to get rid of them and add rooms to the buildings,” said Jackson.
This time around they also plan to replace EL Sol Elementary, the former Vine Alternative School behind Old Central High.
School officials say without this funding, they would have to dip into the money they spend on teachers, students and programs to make repairs.
The Gull Lake School District also is seeking renewal of their maintenance bonds.
Comstock Schools will ask voters in their district for a $39-million dollar bond issue for similar projects that calls for a half mil increase in their tax rate.
Voters in the Vicksburg and Climax-Scotts School Districts are being asked to give routine renewals to the 18-mills assessed on commercial properties.
We will have all the results Tuesday night, May 3, and Wednesday morning, May 4.
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