Marine City voters decide Nov. 3 on a 2.5-mill public safety tax the city says would cost the average parcel about $158 a year

MARINE CITY, Mich. — Marine City voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to tax themselves up to 2.5 mills a year for three years to help pay for fire protection, a levy the city estimates would add about $158 to the average property owner’s winter tax bill.

The proposal, made under Michigan’s Public Act 33 of 1951, would run for 2026, 2027 and 2028. Its ballot language puts first-year revenue at $366,642. A 2.5-mill tax works out to $2.50 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

That revenue estimate runs a little high, according to a resident fact sheet the city has posted on its website. At Marine City’s current total taxable value of $142,993,993, the fact sheet says, 2.5 mills would bring in $357,484.98.

The ballot language limits the money to public safety and fire protection, including firefighting, emergency response, staff, trucks and equipment, buildings and training. Fire service now costs the city $325,000 a year, or 8.9% of its $3,669,211 general fund budget, the fact sheet says. It says most of the new money would go to fire protection, easing the load on the city’s general fund.

The city’s math for an individual bill is taxable value divided by 1,000, then multiplied by 2.5. Marine City has 2,261 parcels with an average taxable value of $63,244, which would mean an average bill of $158.11, according to the fact sheet. Owners can look up their own taxable value on the city’s BSA Online property page.

The fact sheet also stresses who is asking. The levy is being requested by the city, it says in capital letters, not by the Marine City Fire Authority.

The question is on the ballot after a spring fight over the city’s budget. Facing a $650,000 general fund deficit, the city had proposed a 5-mill public safety special assessment, Blue Water Healthy Living reported. More than a dozen property owners spoke against it at a May 7 public hearing, and commissioners then voted unanimously, with one member absent, to reject it.

Resident Heather Warner had already collected 471 signatures on petitions asking that the assessment go to voters, and the commission certified her petition May 21, the outlet reported. A certified resident petition requires the commission to put the question on the ballot, the city’s fact sheet says. Michael Reaves, then the city manager, cut spending across departments to balance the budget and resigned effective June 4, according to Blue Water Healthy Living.

On July 16, commissioners voted unanimously to send voters the smaller, three-year version. Warner told them her petition had covered a 5-mill plan with no end date and asked that the new ballot wording not be credited to it, though she thanked them for putting the question on the ballot, the outlet reported.

Lisa Hendrick, the commission’s mayor pro tem and a member of the fire authority board, voted to place the measure on the ballot but said she did not support its wording. She said the new money would replace the fire department’s current budget rather than pay for anything new, according to the report. City Attorney Robert Davis said the rate could not be raised during its three years and would then expire, and Scott Adkins, then the city manager, said the money could be spent only on police and fire.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Marine City’s single precinct votes at City Hall, 260 S. Parker St., which is also the city’s early voting site from Saturday, Oct. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the St. Clair County clerk’s notice of election. The Marine City Area Fire Authority’s next regular meeting is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the fire hall, 200 S. Parker St., according to the city’s meeting schedule.

Sources:
City of Marine City, “PA 33 Resident Fact Sheet” (includes ballot language), https://marinecity.gov/pa-33-resident-fact-sheet/ and https://marinecity.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Marine_City_PA33_Resident_Fact_Sheet_PRINT_READY.pdf
St. Clair County Clerk, “Notice of Election, Tuesday, November 3, 2026,” https://stclaircountyclerk.org/Public/File/november_notice_of_election_pdf
Blue Water Healthy Living, “Marine City voters will decide on special assessment district,” https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/news/local-news/marine-city-voters-will-decide-on-special-assessment-district/
Blue Water Healthy Living, “MC officials vote down resolution for SAD,” https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/news/local-news/mc-officials-vote-down-resolution-for-sad/
City of Marine City, City Commission page, https://marinecity.gov/city-commission/; 2026 regular meeting schedule, https://marinecity.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-Meeting-Schedule.pdf
Photo: Notorious4life, “Marine City City Hall (new August 2023).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marine_City_City_Hall_(new_August_2023).jpg

Blue Water Area

Tags: Blue Water Area · News · Marine City · Public safety millage · Fire protection · Nov. 3 election