Saginaw voters get an eighth chance to keep or scrap the city’s 1979 property tax cap

SAGINAW, Mich. — For the eighth time since 1979, Saginaw voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to give up the voter-imposed cap that limits how much the city can collect in general operating property taxes.

City of Saginaw Proposal 1 would amend Section 45 of the city charter. That section limits the city’s operating tax to the lesser of 7.5 mills or the rate needed to raise the same revenue the city received in the 1978-79 fiscal year, $3,828,778, according to the ballot language in the Saginaw County Clerk’s official election notice. The amendment would eliminate the dollar cap but keep the millage limit and the charter’s temporary 3-mill tax for a declared emergency.

What the cap does now. Because collections cannot top about $3.8 million, the cap has kept the city’s rate below what the charter otherwise allows. City Finance Director Lori Brown said in an August 2025 presentation that the cap pushed the operating rate down to 6.3365 mills in 2025, Michigan Capitol Confidential, the news service of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, reported. The charter’s 7.5-mill ceiling has since been reduced to 7.3830 mills under the state’s Headlee Amendment, MLive reported. Under the cap, rising property values and new construction do not automatically bring the city more operating revenue; officials say that makes it harder to keep up with labor, infrastructure and other costs. Brown estimated the cap has held city revenue down by an average of about $630,000 a year since it took effect.

If the cap is removed, the Headlee Amendment would still apply: it requires voter approval for new or increased millages and rolls rates back when property values rise faster than inflation, Capitol Confidential reported.

Seven defeats. Voters adopted the cap in 1979 through an initiative led by Saginaw United Taxpayers, which cut the city’s operating tax limit from 10 mills to 7.5 mills. They have since rejected seven attempts to repeal or raise it. In the last vote, in 2009, 74% chose to keep it, according to Capitol Confidential. The City Council voted unanimously on June 8 to put the question back on the ballot after Restore Saginaw, a citizen group formed in 2024, asked for it in December 2025.

Residents who spoke at the June 8 council meeting said the city still has not made its case. “It keeps getting on the ballot, and it keeps getting voted down,” taxpayer Charles Allen said. “It’s because there’s an issue with the transparency. The people want to know what you’ll do if the tax cap is lifted.” Resident Gary Becker said the city has found other money through charges such as water and sidewalk permit fees. “It’s been voted down seven times. You keep saying that we’re living on 1979 funds. We’re not,” Becker said, according to Capitol Confidential. To opponents, the cap remains one of the last restraints residents have over City Hall’s spending power, MLive reported.

Supporters say the limit belongs to another era. Former Mayor Floyd Kloc, who fronts the Restore Saginaw campaign, argues the cap has become an “absurd limitation” because it has no inflation adjustment and no sunset, MLive reported. Mayor Brenda Moore said in her 2025 State of the City address that the cap ties the city to a “1979 budget.” “It’s not about the money right now,” Moore said, according to Capitol Confidential. “It’s about generations that come after me.”

By the numbers. Saginaw’s general fund budget was less than $24 million in 1979, the Michigan Banner reported. The city’s 2025-26 budget is built on $45.1 million in general fund revenue, with a total city budget of $203.8 million, Capitol Confidential reported. The city had about 77,500 residents when the cap was adopted and about 43,000 now, according to census figures cited by the outlet. The city operating levy made up about 11% of a typical Saginaw homeowner’s tax bill, and the separate voter-approved police and fire levy roughly another 13% to 14%, according to city figures cited by Capitol Confidential and MLive. Proposal 1 would affect only the operating levy.

The cap could also be undone in Lansing. State Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Saginaw, and 12 co-sponsors introduced House Bill 4121, which would bar local governments from imposing revenue caps on property taxes and would remove Saginaw’s $3.8 million limit while leaving the 7.5-mill limit in place. As of July, the bill had not moved out of the House Committee on Government Operations, Capitol Confidential reported.

Countywide: 9-1-1 dispatch millage. Saginaw County Proposal 26-4 would renew the Saginaw County 9-1-1 Authority millage at up to 0.28 mill ($0.28 per $1,000 of taxable value) for 2028 through 2037. The ballot language says it would raise an estimated $2,031,015 in the first year to replace outdated radio equipment for fire, police and emergency medical services, buy other dispatch equipment and keep the authority operating. At the full rate, a home with a $100,000 taxable value would pay $28 a year. Voters first approved the tax in August 2018, 23,721 to 16,140, MLive reported.

Oakley: a police question nobody can explain. Village of Oakley Proposal 2026-1 asks whether the village should “continue the use of their police department after the start of the next fiscal year beginning April 1, 2027 at no extra cost to village of Oakley residents.” County election officials say the question does not cite a state law or say what a yes or no vote would require. “Usually, when we put something on the ballot, we know what a yes or no vote will do,” Saginaw County Chief Deputy Clerk Kyle Bostwick told MLive. “I do not know what this ballot proposal does.” Three of the five officials who voted to place it on the ballot are not seeking reelection, so a largely new village council would decide how to apply the result, MLive reported.

Also on Saginaw County ballots. Birch Run village voters will decide an eight-year renewal of a 1.5-mill road tax, 2027 through 2034, estimated at $127,704 in the first year. The Saginaw Intermediate School District is asking to renew 0.9962 mill and restore 0.0038 mill, for a full 1 mill, for career and technical education from 2028 through 2037, about $7.08 million in 2028. Four districts are asking to borrow: Freeland up to $21.2 million (an estimated 1.984-mill levy in 2027), Hemlock up to $17.75 million (an estimated 1.10 mills, with no net increase over this year’s levy), Breckenridge up to $12.4 million (an estimated 1.15 mills, with no net increase), and St. Charles up to $10,475,000 (an estimated 1.34 mills). Bridgeport-Spaulding, Hemlock, Merrill, Montrose and Birch Run Area Schools have operating or sinking fund renewals. Statewide, every voter will see Proposal 1 on a constitutional convention and Proposal 2 on utility and contractor campaign donations.

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; in Saginaw County, the Early Voting Center at 618 Cass St. in Saginaw is open to every county voter from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to the county’s election notice. 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:
Saginaw County Clerk, “Notice of Registration for the Election to be Held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026” (ballot language for all county, city, village and school proposals; Early Voting Center location and hours), https://www.saginawcountymi.gov/media/b4ba5kjh/november-3-2026-notice-of-registration-saginaw-county-v1.pdf
Saginaw County Clerk, “2026 November General Election” (candidate and proposal listing, sample ballot link), https://saginawcountymi.gov/departments/county-clerk/elections/2026-november-general-election/
Michigan Capitol Confidential, Natalie Hansen, “Saginaw officials will ask voters to let them increase tax take,” July 7, 2026 (council vote, 1979 history, 2009 result, Allen, Becker and Moore quotes, Brown figures, budget and population figures, Headlee, House Bill 4121), https://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/news/saginaw-officials-will-ask-voters-to-let-them-increase-tax-take
MLive, “Here are proposals that will appear on Saginaw County ballots in November 2026,” October 2026 (Headlee-reduced 7.3830-mill limit, eighth attempt, 2018 9-1-1 vote, Oakley proposal and Bostwick quote), https://www.mlive.com/politics/2026/10/here-are-proposals-that-will-appear-on-saginaw-county-ballots-in-november-2026.html
MLive, “A generational fight over Saginaw taxes is heading back to voters,” September 2026 (Kloc and Restore Saginaw, opponents’ view, share of tax bill), https://www.mlive.com/politics/2026/09/a-generational-fight-over-saginaw-taxes-is-heading-back-to-voters.html
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: Antony-22, “Saginaw City Hall 2025a.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:Saginaw_City_Hall_2025a.jpg

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