GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Kent County voters will decide August 2 whether to renew two millages providing services to some of the state’s most vulnerable populations, senior citizens and veterans.
FOX 17 talked with Navy veteran Paul Ryan. He served five years in active duty and 25 in the reserves.
“I was lucky enough to come out of that military service without a scratch physically or psychologically. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said of many of my fellow veterans in Kent County,” Ryan told FOX 17.
He said many of his fellow veterans rely on services made available through the Kent County Veterans Millage, which is up for renewal on the ballot this August.
“Its existence speaks to the, what I believe to be, the core competency of Kent County Veterans Services, which is enabling veterans to access the federal benefits that they received through their military service,” Ryan explained.
The millage helps with veteran outreach and emergency services, along with health, housing, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Voters first approved the millage in 2014.
Ryan says he’s confident voters will do it again in 2022, especially since there is no increase and it will stay at the same rate as it was in 2014.
The millage costs homeowners, with a home valued at $200,000, about five dollars a year.
“All of us as Kent County citizens need to come together and support both the veterans millage and the senior millage. That’s my personal belief,” Ryan shared.
Many people believe the Kent County Senior Millage goes hand and hand with the veterans millage.
According to the most recent census, there are 29,000 veterans in Kent County and more than half of them are senior citizens.
“It’s a program that definitely assists people to remain independent at their highest level of dependency for as long as possible. And it’s a program I love to see in every county because it just brings so much value to our older population,” said Kim Motter, Reliance Community Care Partners director of quality.
Reliance Community Care Partners is one of many organizations that helps senior citizens.
Motter says the main areas of concern are helping people 60 and older with unmet needs and mental healthcare.
“We would start to see many of them require perhaps nursing home placement that they would have been able to have remained in their community, I think. Then you run into the issue where people aren’t having the quality of life that they deserve,” Motter explained.
The senior millage would cost the average Kent County homeowner about $8.40 a month.
“I think since it started back in the early 2000s, it has been a blessing to Kent County and the residents because, at some point, we’re all going to be in that age group,” Motter added.
If approved, the veterans millage would be renewed for eight years and the senior millage for seven years.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, August 2, and close at 8 p.m.
