YOU'RE BEING MISLED

This is from the STCS website:  

STCS  August 13, 2025

The Saginaw Township Community Schools Board of Education has approved placing a $169.2 million bond proposal on the November 4, 2025 ballot, after the proposal was approved by the Michigan Treasury. If approved by voters, the bond will finance improvements at all eight school district facilities.

The comprehensive bond proposal is designed to make necessary upgrades and renovations across the school district, that exceed the scope and funds of our sinking fund. The bond proposal requires a 2.85 mill tax increase which will cost the Saginaw Township Community School District homeowner in a $100,000 home (for example) with a taxable value of $50,000, $142.50 per year, or $11.88 per month.  Some homeowners may pay less if they qualify for the Michigan Homestead Credit.

But the fine print of the Bond Proposal says:

The School Board has understated the tax burden this proposal would create by falsely announcing on their website and to the newspaper that "The bond proposal requires a 2.85 mill tax increase which will cost the Saginaw Township Community School District homeowner in a $100,000 home (for example) with a taxable value of $50,000, $142.50 per year." 

However, the actual text of the proposal they submitted to the state shows dramatically different numbers. The actual proposal discloses that:  "The estimated millage that will be levied for the proposed bonds in 2026 is 3.95 mills ($3.95 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation). The maximum number of years the bonds of any series may be outstanding, exclusive of any refunding, is twenty-five (25) years. The estimated simple average annual millage anticipated to be required to retire this bond debt is 5.21 mills ($5.21 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation)."

This is a Significant Tax Increase... 

5.21 mills equals a $588/year* property tax increase annually, and over 25 years is $14,700 extra taxes for the average township household based on current values--which will definitely increase over the 25 years and will increase the tax increase every year. 

*For the average township home value of $226,000 ($113,000 SEV)   Scroll down to find actual tax increase the cost for your home based on its value.

Why are there discrepancies between public statements & actual ballot language? This suggests that the school board is understating the true financial commitment required from the taxpayers. A voter could be misled by the lower figure on the website--only to discover the actual cost is up to 83% higher, on average! 

The discrepancy in the millage rates shows that the board either failed to understand the details of their own proposal, or deliberately chose to misrepresent the cost to the public! 

EACH BOARD MEMBER HAS A FIDUCIARY DUTY TO ACCURATELY INFORM THE PUBLIC. BY PRESENTING THE LOWER MILLAGE RATE, THEY FAILED IN THIS DUTY.

THIS UNDERMINES OUR TRUST IN OUR SCHOOL BOARD AND THIS IS REASON ENOUGH TO VOTE "NO!"

Low voter awareness is exactly what our disingenuous school board it counting on. By putting this proposal on a township-funded special election ballot they expect a low turnout.

By calling for an election for a single proposal question when nothing else is on the ballot costs taxpayers $120,000 (est.).  And YES! The School Board was billed for the last Special Election they called for 2 years ago.

It is expected that homeowners with young kids will vote "yes" (unless they homeschool or go to Nouvel), but they know that most other people want accountability 1st before they lavish more money on the dreams of school district administrators, consultants, architects, builders & unions bosses (who stand to gain financially from a $170,000,000 taxpayer backed payday!).  

It was only 2 years ago that township voters soundly rejected the enormous quarter billion dollar bond proposal by an 80%-40% margin.  NO means NO!

These cynics know that most people will vote NO to this unfocused, poorly conceived & extravagant plan--IF they know to vote.  SO they stack the deck with a special "stealth" election--and hope for a low voter turnout.  And why not?  After all, its your money they are spending to hold this vote for the 2nd time in 2 years. 

The public information underemphasizes the long-term commitment of this bond. The proposal states that the bond could be outstanding for 25 years. This means taxpayers would be locked into paying the higher millage rate for a quarter of a century. A 25-year debt is a significant burden--especially if the 5.21 average millage is what is truly needed to retire the debt.  In a community like Saginaw Township (consisting of many lower income persons & seniors), being forced to pay this higher-than-promoted rate endangers their ability to make ends meet.

In reality, this proposed bond represents a huge financial commitment that may not be sustainable or justifiable given the conflicting information and the duration of the debt. 

• Tenants beware!  Your landlord will have no choice but to pass along all this extra property tax cost to you as part of your rent.  This bond will become an additional cost of doing business--so you will have to pay too!

• Employers Beware!  Your employees could be overburdened by this tax increase and expect you to increase their wages to cover the increased cost of living in Saginaw Township,  Welcome, higher labor costs!

• Children Beware!  This tax lasts 25 years and will saddle you with debt for many years of your adult life.

This school board is out-of-touch, arrogant and will not listen to the people!  

Listen for yourself to the township residents' response to news of this SECOND school bond proposal in a SPECIAL election...

The people that want to vote yes should just make a donation instead of making all of us paying for it. property taxes are already high were voting no.

Time to vote a new school board in and take better care of the financials! This should be an easy NO vote!

People are just tired of being taxed to death only to find out the money never goes to what it was meant to be used for- maybe the public needs to see the bids and the actual plans and then there should be accountability meetings to show where the money actually was spent-

I never vote yes to raise my taxes. Certainly not for schools, after what the Dept of Education did during covid. They lie about everything.

There has to come a time that people understand that it’s okay to live within a budget at home and ask the entities asking for an increase do the same. Perhaps the administration could take pay cuts to offset the increase if this is “about the kids” then make it about the kids…

Why should we vote yes? They STILL HAVE NOT explained what they are using the money for. They say “facility upgrades”. Well what exactly are you upgrading?  Why don’t they get rid of some of the administrative staff? I’ve never seen so many administrative staff in my life.  My high school had a graduating class of over 500. We had NO AC. We had ONE principal. ONE assistant principal and 4 counselors THATS IT.

I'm voting NO. They need to live within their budget like the rest of us.

VOTE No and post your no on every one of those FB banner images the school board is spreading. The overwhelming number of NO wasn't enough convincing the last time that hundreds millions of dollars mileage raise your property taxes. They think we're stupid 

the sinking fund --- why don't we ever find out some details about that sinking fund account such as: This is the balance - this is how much we took in when YOU voters passed the funding of such an account - this is what we spent it on - this is what we project to spend more funds on to fix xxx yyy ZZZ in the proper priority because it needs fixing badly. So, at the end of the "day" -- this is why we need to fund a bond process to continue to "fix" stuff. The sinking fund is running dry. Pretty simple I think. Show me the money?  Me: school wants more money…ok-* notices a giant expensive fence around Sherwood that wasn’t necessary for decades, but somehow HAD to happen recently* …I’m voting NO. I live in the Township, and my taxes ALREADY went up. The school district has a budget, they can work with it like the rest of us. Where did my extra tax money go anyway??? Nice fence.

Perhaps if you were on social security, could not afford the extra money the school wants, and did not have kids in the system, you might get smart and realize that this is the worst time to ask for more money. People can barely survive right now.

Just tax the people who vote yes.

I’m sorry, I hate when people say “would you deny a better education?” Hmmm let me think? No, I really wouldn’t like to, as I have 3 children in STCS. That being said, enough is enough.  Our taxes have went up every year for the last 4 years. They assessed our house and the taxes went up even more. Homeowners insurance keeps going up. Consumers energy bills skyrocketing. It’s never ending, but give us more money.

Look at your tax bill now. Look at how much you pay for the Township police (which is insane). Look at how much for the Sheriff’s department. The castle museum. The Dow, Mosquito Abatement. The list goes on and on.  Simply put, municipalities, school districts and the government need to learn how to work within their allotted budget. Taxpayers are not a never ending ATM.