Arvon Township School collects only 11 mills of non-homestead tax. Many schools in Michigan collect 18 mills plus additional debt retirement.
Homestead property owners pay NO taxes which directly operate Arvon Township School. All taxpayers pay 6 mills for the State Education Tax, a tax which goes directly to the State of Michigan and funds most schools. Arvon receives none of this money as our local non-homestead tax of 11 mills is sufficient to operate the school.
If our school closed and annexed to another school district, our non-homestead taxpayers would pay 18 mills of taxes, an increase of seven mills.
Other local schools have additional debt retirement which ALL taxpayers must pay (homestead and non-homestead). L’Anse School District collects approximately 4.25 extra mills and Baraga School District 13.00 mills through 2017. If Arvon Township School annexed to one of these districts, our taxes could increase significantly.
Arvon Township School receives no state aid for operational purposes. Our primary operating millage comes from non-homestead local taxes. Extra federal grant funds supply additional revenue. We have no building projects (new buildings, football fields, etc.) which require a debt retirement millage.
In summary: If our school closed and we annexed to another local district our non-homestead taxpayers could pay an additional 12.25 – 21 mills and our homestead taxpayers an additional 4.25-13 mills of debt retirement.
If Arvon Township School had only one student, it would still benefit the taxpayers to stay open.
