By TERESA NIMS
Sunday Times Newspapers
RIVERVIEW – Despite only a short time for Riverview Community Schools officials to let voters know what the March 8, 18-mill ballot proposal was about, it still won by a landslide.
The proposal passed, with 75 percent of the turnout supporting the millage, 2,965 to 1,005. A total of 3,970 of the district’s 8,998 registered voters went to the polls.
School officials said the renewal is vital to running the district’s operation. The non-homestead 18 mills is expected to raise $1.88 million — 8 percent — for the district’s $25 million annual budget.
Tuesday’s vote allowed school officials to levy the money for another 10 years. It was originally levied in 1996. The millage is levied against commercial, businesses and rental properties in the district. The district levies the money and the state funnels it into the district’s budget.
Supt. Russell Pickell said there was a small window for dissemination of the proposal because of Public Act 269, which prevented school officials from using tax dollars to disseminate information about ballot proposals, robocalling, television, mass mailings or radio ads for 60 days prior to the election. It also denied officials from talking about the ballot proposal. The legislation enacted in January, however, was temporarily lifted mid-February.
Two pieces of legislation are making their way through the state Legislature aimed at amending the language and repealing the law.
(Tereasa Nims can be reached at [email protected].)