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The 0.5-mill, four-year proposal would fund public transit and is tied to a state grant that requires a local funding match. Commissioner Steve Sopocy cast the lone vote against sending it to voters.
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The ballot-language resolution the board adopted June 2. Source: Gratiot County.
ITHACA — Gratiot County voters will decide in November whether to tax themselves to fund public transit, after commissioners voted 4-1 on June 2 to put a county-wide transit millage on the ballot.
What’s being asked. Resolution 26-431 sets the ballot language for a proposal that would let the county levy up to 0.5 mill — 50 cents per $1,000 of taxable value — for four years, 2026 through 2029. The resolution estimates the levy would raise about $1,016,843.66 in its first year, based on the county’s 2025 equalization report. The money would fund “operating funds for county-wide public transit service,” and the resolution says a portion could also be shared, as state law allows, with the downtown development authorities of Alma and St. Louis and the county’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
Why now. The resolution ties the millage to a new state funding source: the Neighborhood Roads Fund, which it says was established Oct. 7, 2025 under the Michigan Transportation Fund Act. The Michigan Department of Transportation issued a call for transit projects under that fund, and the resolution says the Alma Transit Center submitted a proposal to expand service to all of Gratiot County, contingent on a state grant to cover start-up costs. Grant eligibility, the resolution says, requires “a demonstrated local financial commitment for long-term operations” — which the millage is meant to provide.
The vote. Commissioner Tim Gay moved to approve the resolution; Commissioner George Bailey seconded. The roll call: Bailey, Jan Bunting, Gay and Chairman Dave Owens voted yes. Commissioner Steve Sopocy voted no. The minutes do not record a reason for his vote. The measure will appear on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. The resolution itself calls that date “the primary election”; in Michigan, general elections are typically held in November and primaries in August. We are quoting the resolution’s own wording and have not independently confirmed which term the county intends.
What it would cost. A table attached to the resolution shows the estimated yield at other rates: a full 1.0 mill would raise an estimated $2,033,687.31 a year; the proposed 0.5 mill would raise about half that.
What we don’t know. The resolution does not spell out what routes or service levels the money would fund, how much of the total the Alma Transit Center expansion would require, or what happens if voters reject the millage but the county still receives a state grant contingent on local matching funds.
