COUNTY ASSESSOR CATCHES ERROR, PREVENTING HUGE BUDGET PROBLEMS

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
ST. JOSEPH – Berrien County Commissioners met last week to set the millage rates for the 2025 tax year and conduct other business, including changing the status of some county employees from union to non-union.
The setting of the millage rates for the 2025 year came after commissioners heard from Equalization Director Warren Parrish in April and accepted his equalization report. Parrish reported then that his department had done hundreds of assessment-related studies in preparing the report.        Parrish scoured all of the local collection amounts and local assessments before determining that a Headlee rollback would not be necessary. A Headlee rollback is required under the Michigan Constitution when taxable values and thus property tax revenues increase more than the rate of inflation.
County wide, equalized values went up 16% from 2023 to 2024 and is going up 7.6% from 2024 to 2025. The total equalized value for real and personal property in 2025 is $15.73 billion, up from $14.62 billion in 2024.
The millage rates approved at last week’s meeting were for the upcoming summer and winter tax collections. The summer levy will be 4.7408 mills for the general fund, while the winter levies will be 0.4469 mill for 9-1-1 service, 0.3476 mill for public safety, 0.2979 mill for senior citizen centers, and 0.0994 mill for county parks.
The revenue received for the various funds is based on the millage rate multiplied by the 2025 taxable value of $10.612 billion, which excludes the value of renaissance zone properties, disabled veterans’ properties, and senior housing.
A total of $62.96 million is expected to be collected for the 5 county funds with the bulk of it ($50.3 million) going to the county general fund.
Parrish’s efforts when it comes to equalization were recognized by County Administrator Brian Dissette. “Warren caught an assessing error that has a massive monetary impact on the county,” Dissette told commissioners. “You could line up dozens of assessors who wouldn’t have caught it. He caught it; his work is so solid.”
The county board’s next meeting will be June 5 at the 19 North Froehlichs meeting center in Three Oaks. The board will have two more night meetings this year: July 10 at the Watervliet Charter Township Hall and Aug. 7 at the MSU Extension Service Center near Benton Harbor.
Dissette said he’s again offering facility orientation tours to county commissioners in advance of the June 5 meeting in Three Oaks. This time, he will lead a tour of county-owned facilities in the south county, including the south county courthouse in Niles, the Bakertown garage south of Buchanan, and Madeline Bertrand County Park south of Niles.
In action last week, commissioners approved a wage hike for county employees who are no longer part of the Fraternal Order of Police Council union. The FOP labor council recently informed the county that they were no longer representing general employees working for the county who are not law enforcement officers.
The resolution approved by the county board places those job classifications on the non-union salary schedule and gives them a 3% wage increase effective May 18. The move affects 186 county employees over several departments, including over 50 in the health department. The county’s total workforce is around 900 people.
Commissioners also approved applying for annual grants for the county’s specialty court programs. The county is applying for:

• $139,758 for the mental health court
• $189,440 for the Swift & Sure Sanctions program
• $52,755 for the drug treatment court