Otsego County voters approve millages for bus system, animal control and Vanderbilt school

Paul Welitzkin, The Petoskey News-Review
·2 min read
Snow greeted voters on Tuesday at the Gaylord City Hall. There were two millage renewals on the ballot for Otsego County and voters served by the Vanderbilt Area School considered a millage proposal that was defeated last November.
Snow greeted voters on Tuesday at the Gaylord City Hall. There were two millage renewals on the ballot for Otsego County and voters served by the Vanderbilt Area School considered a millage proposal that was defeated last November.

GAYLORD — Voters in Otsego County Tuesday approved the renewal of operating millages for the bus sytem and the animal shelter while those served by the Vanderbilt Area School narrowly endorsed a millage that lost by a handful of votes last November.

Funding for the Otsego County bus system was assured for another five years when voters approved 0.55 of a mill, down from the current millage of 0.60 of a mill. There were 2,549 yes votes to 1,132 no votes.

Passage of the 0.55 of a mill means that a home with a taxable value of $100,000 will pay about $55 a year in property taxes to fund the system. The reduced millage rate comes despite inflation pushing up fuel prices and the pending loss of some COVID-19 aid.

"We have been working on efficiencies since I came over in 2016," said Tim Cherwinski, bus system director. "Ridership is on its way up. We are now at about 75 percent (of the ridership) we had before Covid."

More: Otsego County bus system millage request falls despite higher fuel prices

More: Otsego County Animal Shelter millage on May 2 ballot

Voters also renewed a levy of .30 of a mill to fund the shelter and related services in the county for the next five years. The voting for this millage saw 2,783 yes votes to 901 no votes.

The .30 of a mill works out to 30 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value so a home with a taxable value of $100,000 will pay about $30 a year in property taxes.

More: Voters to consider millage proposal for Vanderbilt Area School

Subscribe Check out our latest offers and read to local news that matters to you

Voters in the Vanderbilt Area School district endorsed an additional 12 mills of property taxes with 153 yes votes to 149 no votes. The millage failed last November by a handful of votes.

The tax will raise about $24,000 annually for the school, which has an enrollment of about 100 K-12 students.

County clerk Suzy DeFeyter said 3,724, or nearly 16 percent, of the county's 23,591 registered voters participated in the election which came after nearly five inches of snow fell in parts of the county.

— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Otsego County voters approve three millages in Tuesday election