The Board of Trustees at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) in Traverse City has voted unanimously to annex Benzie County (BC) and will now put this resolution on the ballot for November 5, 2024 election. Annexation, in part, would provide BC residents who attend NMC with reduced in-district tuition. Although this is a worthy goal, the annexation plan calls for a 2.057 millage increase to Benzie property and business owners in perpetuity (i.e., FOREVER) resulting in NMC receiving approximately 3.75+ million per year in tax revenue from our county beginning in 2025 FOR a small number of students who only attend NMC; residents attending other colleges will not receive any of this money. This is a non-partisan issue centered on who we, as Benzie County residents, want to control our taxes and where our money gets spent. This significant amount of money kept in our county and not given to NMC would go a long way to addressing other problems such as affordable housing, childcare, and poverty to name a few--and still provide support for education.

Background:

Maggie Bacon, Coordinator of BEST Benzie County along with Jack Harnish of Advocates for Benzie County—two nonprofit organizations that want to improve post-secondary access and affordability in our area—contacted NMC and asked them to consider annexation for Benzie County; NMC held listening sessions in late 2023 and early 2024 to get feedback from residents. Maggie Bacon is a former NMC employee and a resident of Leelanau County who spoke in favor of the annexation at the April 22, 2024 NMC Board Meeting. Jack Harnish wrote an op-ed piece in the Record Patriot on January 10, 2024, about this annexation as one way to achieve access and affordability.[i]

NMC has stated publicly that it is interested in “enhancing” their revenue.[ii] At the NMC Board of Trustees meeting on March 18, 2024, Troy Kierczynski, VP of Finance & Administration at NMC, made it very clear why the revenue is needed:

• “The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) projects a 15% decline in Michigan HS [high school] graduates from 2019 to 2037, with a 13-year downward trend from 2024 to 2027.”[iii]
• NMC projects an 8% decrease in enrollments in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and yearly decreases of 1-2% in subsequent years through 2029 leading to decreases in revenue. They are projecting a $415,126 loss for the FY 2025 budget when expenses will be more than revenue [iv] and this loss will continue into 2030. According to a Record-Eagle report on March 20, 2024, NMC’s fall enrollment “peaked in 2010 at 5,440 students and has declined every year since.”[v] NMC’s enrollment in the fall of 2023 was 3,146.[vi] and Benzie County residents attending NMC made up 5% (169) of that population.
• Last year, ONLY 30 high school graduates from Benzie County enrolled at NMC and a majority of them attend part-time. Projections over the next five years indicate that these enrollments will continue to decline as graduates make the choice to not attend college or to enroll in trade apprenticeship programs instead.

NMC, in the listening sessions, stated there are approximately 6,500 BC residents who meet the criteria (at least 21 years old without any postsecondary degree or certificate) to receive funding for free tuition through the Michigan Reconnect program. Although NMC uses this number regularly in its talking points, there has been no data collected to determine how many of these eligible residents are interested in enrolling in post-secondary education programs. 

NMC has indicated that, in addition to providing in-district tuition through annexation, the College would explore ways for NMC to use 2 million of the 3.75 million to have “a presence” in Benzie County. No specific details about this presence have been determined or made in writing and there is no requirement for NMC to spend that money in our county if annexation is passed. It seems unlikely that NMC would establish a campus in Benzie County with buildings, staff, faculty and other instructional support for 25-30 high school graduates a year and an unknown number of adults when they are having difficulty maintaining enrollment numbers at Traverse City.

Benzie residents could find that they are sending 3.75+ million to NMC each year that could yield very little in return for that investment other than to offset tuition for a small number of students. BC residents will have little to no say in how that money is spent because it is the NMC Board of Trustees that decides—and there are no BC residents on the Board. Even though there has been mounting opposition to annexation, it is the NMC Board that voted unanimously on April 22, 2024 to put this issue on the ballot and it will be this Board who determines how much of the 3.75 million will be spent in Benzie County.

Who is impacted with the increased millage?

Every Benzie County property/homeowner and business owner who pays property taxes. 

The information NMC presented at the listening sessions about how much taxes would increase for property owners is misleading. Taxes are based on taxable value and 1 mill equals $1.00 per $1,000 of taxable value. For example, if you have property that has a taxable value of $300,000, you will pay an extra $600 a year in taxes. BC property owners should look at their taxable value figure on the latest tax bill and do the math (Taxable Value divided by 1,000 x 2.057 mil). In addition, the 2.057 mil increase also will be assessed on area businesses including small companies; the economic engine of our area is small business and this increased millage could have a significant negative impact on them.

The 2.057 millage would be in the top four highest millages paid per property owner in BC behind ONLY county tax (3.37 millage), state education tax (6.0 millage), school operating (18 millage) and NW Education services (2.88 millage). In other words, Benzie property/business owners pay less millage for actual services all residents benefit from directly in the county, such as road improvement, veterans benefits, school debt, animal control, public transportation, fire, library, and recycling.

What is at stake?

The bottom line: there is no guarantee what percentage of 3.75 million we send to NMC will be spent on Benzie County residents. And if we find that down the road, the money is not supporting our needs, we will have no recourse because the money that NMC will receive from this millage (which will increase over the years) is permanent and irrevocable—we will not be able to vote to rescind it if things do not work out. The only guarantee if annexation passes is that our taxes each year will go up.

An alternative to giving NMC this tax money would be for us to establish an educational foundation in Benzie County funded by donations that could provide money to subsidize Benzie residents enrolled in postsecondary education REGARDLESS of where they go. There also are currently a significant number of scholarships available to Benzie County high school students who want to pursue postsecondary education that are not based on financial need[vii]; this foundation could work to connect our students with those funds. We also could ask taxpayers, with their approval, to fund a small TEMPORARY millage increase to put money into the fund and the interest earned would be used to subsidize Benzie residents. ALL of the money raised in this manner will stay in Benzie County and how that money is spent would be controlled and determined by Benzie County residents. 

Why is now the time to act?

A It is important for Benzie County taxpayers to show NMC that annexation is not acceptable and that instead they should work with residents to establish other methods for supporting those who want to enroll in post-secondary education programs. NMC establishes the out-of-district rate for students and could lower it (as it recently did for Benzie high school students participating in dual-enrollment programs at NMC) in order to encourage people to enroll at NMC. Please consider signing this petition so that we can show NMC that there is not support for them to increase our taxes and send 3.75 million in revenue into their budget FOREVER.

Thank you for your time and support,

Mary Hutchinson, Concerned Benzie County Resident and Taxpayer

PLEASE NOTE: Change.org will ask for a donation at the end; none of that money goes to this cause but instead goes to Change administration.

REFERENCES 
[i] “To spread the benefits of higher education,” Record Patriot, January 10, 2024. https://eedition.recordpatriot.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=d30211c0-4bde-43e1-b2b6-c4155689c776&pnum=7
[ii] WPBN Traverse City/Cadillac, April 2, 2024, https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careers/northwestern-michigan-college-maintains-talks-on-benzie-county-campus-growth/ar-BB1l0Acf
[iii] Board of Trustees Meeting Packet, March 18, 2024, p. 15, https://www.nmc.edu/about/board-of-trustees/agendas/2024/03.18.24-Board-Packet.pdf
[iv] Board of Trustees Meeting Packet, March 18, 2024, p. 14, https://www.nmc.edu/about/board-of-trustees/agendas/2024/03.18.24-Board-Packet.pdf
[v] “Enrollment continues to dip at NMC,” Record-Eagle, March 20, 2024.  https://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/enrollment-continues-to-dip-at-nmc/article_7e680fc2-3246-5977-8c31-65ef56fea324.html
[vi] Northwest Michigan College, “Facts & Statistics,” retrieved April 18, 2024. https://www.nmc.edu/about/facts/index.html
[vii] Community Foundation Scholarship Guide: Regional Scholarships, https://www.gtrcf.org/userfiles/filemanager/1459/