Voters in the Dearborn Public Schools district are being asked to renew a 0.5 mill operating millage for five years for Henry Ford Community College. If approved, the proposal will supply approximately $2 million toward the college’s operating budget over the five years. We recommend a “yes” vote on this proposal.
The average Dearborn home with a taxable value of $67,400, according to the Dearborn Assessor’s Office, will pay $33.70 per year to support the half-mill renewal.
In the face of reduced revenues from declining property taxes and state appropriations, the college currently has an enrollment of more than 18,000 students. That’s a 33 percent increase over the past three years, due greatly to laid off workers entering or returning to school for retraining.
The college needs every dollar it can get in these economic times, and even though the $200,000 annual income from this millage is only one-half of 1 percent of the college’s $75,900,000 operating budget for 2008-09, that is money guaranteed the college so it can continue to be the affordable educational opportunity it always has been.