Walker asks for a new police and fire tax as East Grand Rapids and Byron Township bring their own tax questions to voters

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Voters in three Grand Rapids-area communities will decide new local taxes on Nov. 3, on top of the Kent County jail tax increase and zoo-and-museum renewal that appear on every ballot in the county.

The largest new request is in Walker, where the city is asking for a 10-year, 1.75-mill property tax for police and fire. East Grand Rapids wants to borrow up to $9 million for its share of a parking deck it would build with the school district, and Byron Township is asking for a new tax of up to 1 mill for parks, according to the Kent County Clerk’s official list of candidates and proposals.

Walker: a new police and fire tax. The ballot question would amend the city charter to allow a new, additional 1.75 mills ($1.75 per $1,000 of taxable value) for police and fire capital and operating costs from 2027 through 2036. The city estimates it would raise $3,065,105 in the first year, with part of the money captured by Walker’s Brownfield Redevelopment and Downtown Development authorities, as state law requires. Over its 10 years, the levy would raise $30 million or more, WGVU News reported.

The city says a home with Walker’s average taxable value of $116,450 would pay about $203 a year, or about $17 a month. Walker now levies a single city operating millage of 1.336 mills, along with a city income tax, according to the city’s millage information page, so the new levy by itself would be larger than the city’s entire current operating rate.

City officials say emergency services have not kept up with Walker’s growth. The city says its Fire Department answers more than twice as many calls as it did a few years ago, that about once a day an emergency comes in when no paid on-call firefighters are available, and that about twice a day calls arrive while every available unit is already out. During serious incidents, the city says, it must ask neighboring departments for help, which slows response times.

The money would pay for round-the-clock staffing at all three fire stations, where only two are now staffed around the clock, plus added personnel, training, upgraded firefighter living quarters and a new police building, the city says. “Limited staffing means there are times every day when we don’t have firefighters who can respond to emergency calls,” Deputy Fire Chief Kevin DeGroot said, according to WGVU. Deputy Police Chief Brandyn Heugel said, “We’ve outgrown our current police building.”

“The average homeowner would pay about $203 a year. That’s $17 a month for public safety services,” Mayor Gary Carey said in a city video, WGVU reported.

East Grand Rapids: a $9 million parking deck bond. The city is asking to borrow up to $9 million over as long as 20 years for its share of a parking deck of about 240 spaces on the Bagley lot near East Grand Rapids High School’s Performing Arts Center, a traffic signal at Lake Drive and Bagley/San Lu Rae, and pedestrian and “micromobility” safety work. The deck would be jointly owned and operated with East Grand Rapids Public Schools, and the city puts the whole project at $15.2 million to $18.1 million.

The city estimates a first-year levy of 0.5922 mill, about $178 for a home with a $300,000 taxable value, and an average of 0.4925 mill, or about $150 a year for that home, over the life of the bonds. The average residential taxable value in the city is $265,468. The city’s share of upkeep would come from its general fund; City Manager Shea Charles put the deck’s maintenance at about $100,000 a year, and the traffic signal at $500,000, MLive reported.

Charles told MLive the deck would replace about 72 parking spaces the high school expects to lose in a renovation. Parking would be free, the ground floor would be open to the public at all times, and the upper levels would be reserved for school use during school hours. The city’s ballot resolution says moving some parking into the deck would let street parking space be reallocated to dedicated lanes for e-bikes, scooters and bikes under the city’s Mobility Plan.

The plan has drawn pushback from neighbors. Three community feedback sessions from May through July, which drew 30 to 40 people each, brought “a few comments of support for the proposed project with mostly opposition expressed, especially those who live in close proximity,” Charles wrote in a July 29 memo to the City Commission. Bagley Condo owners raised safety, traffic, loading and environmental concerns, and nearby building owners worried about losing access through the lot they now use for deliveries, parking and trash pickup, the memo says.

Byron Township: a new parks tax. Byron Township is asking for up to 1 mill for 10 years, 2026 through 2035, for parks, recreation facilities, trails, pathways and sidewalks. The full mill would raise an estimated $2,019,781 in the first year, but the township board expects to levy 0.60 mill on the Dec. 1, 2026, tax bill if voters approve, according to the ballot language. That would cost about $90 a year on a home with a $150,000 taxable value, or $150 at the full mill, MLive reported.

The parks department now gets about $1.4 million a year from the township’s general fund. Under the township’s plan, about $1.2 million would come from the new tax and $800,000 from the general fund, freeing about $600,000 that parks officials say could help with police and fire needs and rebuilding reserves, MLive reported. Byron residents pay about 48.46 mills in total property taxes this year, 2.51 of them to the township. Parks and Recreation Director Krystal Laska told FOX 17 the department is “the first on the chopping block” when the township faces a major expense.

Also on Walker-area ballots. Kenowa Hills Public Schools, which serves part of Walker, is asking to renew its operating levy of up to 20 mills on non-homestead property, such as businesses, rentals and second homes, for 2027 through 2036. The levy does not apply to owner-occupied homes. Countywide, voters will decide a 20-year renewal and increase of the jail millage to 0.98 mill and a 10-year renewal of the John Ball Zoo and Grand Rapids Public Museum millage, covered in an earlier Mitten Daily story.

Monday, Oct. 19, was the last day to register to vote online or by mail. After that, residents can still register in person at their city or township clerk’s office with proof of residency, through 8 p.m. on Election Day. Statewide early in-person voting runs Oct. 24 through Nov. 1. Absentee ballot applications are due by 5 p.m. Oct. 30 by mail or online, or by 4 p.m. Nov. 2 in person at the clerk’s office. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. County canvasses must finish by Nov. 17, and the Board of State Canvassers certifies statewide results by Nov. 23. Voters can check their registration and see their sample ballot at Michigan.gov/Vote.

Updated Oct. 20, 2026: The Oct. 19 deadline to register to vote online or by mail has passed, so the voting details now say so. Residents can still register in person at their city or township clerk’s office with proof of residency through 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Sources:
Kent County Clerk, Elections Division, “Official Candidates and Proposals List, November 3, 2026 General Election” (ballot language for the Walker, East Grand Rapids, Byron Township, Kenowa Hills and county proposals), https://www.kentcountymi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8870/November-3-2026-Candidates-and-Proposals-PDF
WGVU, “Kent County Proposals, November 3, 2026 General Election” (compiled ballot language), https://dc79r36mj3c9w.cloudfront.net/prod/filer_public/wgvu-bento-live-pbs/Vote%20of%20Confidence/County%20Proposals/General%20Election/53be3b8b87_Kent%20County%202026%20General%20Election%20Proposals.pdf
City of Walker, “Police and Fire Millage Proposal” (call volume, staffing and what the levy would fund), https://www.walker.city/763/Public-Safety-Millage
City of Walker, “Millage Impact Info & Calculator” (average taxable value, annual cost, current 1.3360-mill operating rate), https://walker.city/768/Millage-Impact-Info-Calculator
City of Walker, “Walker Announces Public Safety Millage – Answering the Call 24/7/365” (two of three fire stations now staffed around the clock), https://walker.city/m/newsflash
WGVU News, Phil Dawson, “Walker voters to consider 1.75-mill public safety tax in November,” Sept. 29, 2026 (10-year total, Carey, DeGroot and Heugel quotes, Kenowa Hills renewal), https://www.wgvunews.org/news/2026-09-29/walker-voters-to-consider-1-75-mill-public-safety-tax-in-november
City of East Grand Rapids, “Bagley Parking Deck” (project cost, millage and taxpayer estimates, average taxable value), https://www.eastgrmi.gov/bagley-deck
City of East Grand Rapids, City Commission agenda packet, Aug. 3, 2026 (Shea Charles memo of July 29 on design and community feedback), https://www.eastgrmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08032026-950
City of East Grand Rapids, special City Commission meeting packet, Aug. 6, 2026 (corrected bond resolution and Mobility Plan language), https://eastgrmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08062026-951
MLive, “East Grand Rapids voters to weigh $9M parking deck bond,” October 2026 (lost spaces, maintenance and signal costs, deck use), https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2026/10/east-grand-rapids-9-million-parking-deck-bond-on-november-ballot.html
MLive, “Byron Township voters to decide 10-year parks millage in November,” October 2026 (parks budget, general-fund shift, cost examples, total millage), https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2026/10/byron-township-voters-to-decide-10-year-parks-millage-in-november.html
FOX 17 (WXMI), Waleed Alamleh, “Byron Township parks millage on November ballot could generate up to $2 million for parks” (Laska quote), https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/wyoming-kentwood-byron-center/byron-township-parks-millage-on-november-ballot-could-generate-up-to-2-million-for-parks
Michigan Department of State, “Absentee voting” and election calendar (registration, early voting and absentee deadlines), https://www.michigan.gov/sos/elections/voting/absentee-voting
Photo: WMrapids, “East Grand Rapids.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped; derivative shared under the same license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:East_Grand_Rapids.jpg

Grand Rapids · Election 2026 coverage

Tags: Grand Rapids · Election 2026 · Kent County · Millage · Public Safety · Taxes