A new 10-year property tax for two Detroit museums would cost Farmington and Farmington Hills homeowners about $20 per $100,000 in taxable value, a fraction of the school millage Oakland County voters rejected on Aug. 4.
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Society announced Tuesday, Aug. 18, that they will ask Oakland and Wayne county voters to approve a 0.2-mill levy on Nov. 3. The measure would generate dedicated public funding for both institutions for the first time.
For a Farmington-area home with a taxable value of $150,000, the annual cost would be roughly $30. A home taxed at $100,000 would pay $20.
What residents would get
If the millage passes, every Oakland County resident would receive free admission to both the Wright Museum and the Detroit Historical Museum. Seniors and students would get free transportation for tours, and teachers would gain curriculum resources and training tied to the museums' collections.
Fifteen percent of revenue would flow back to other historical institutions in each county, according to Detroit Historical Society president and CEO Elana Rugh.
The two museums together hold more than 300,000 publicly owned artifacts. Both are audited annually.
Why the museums say they need it
Wright Museum president and CEO Neil A. Barclay said the institution must raise $10 million every year to stay open.
"The model we have for The Wright, I can say we have to generate $10 million every 12 months," Barclay told WXYZ. "For a relatively small non-profit, it's a lot of money to try to find every 12 months."
Both institutions cited shrinking federal, state and local funding as the driver behind the campaign, which they branded "Yes to Our Story." The Detroit Historical Society's CEO told Detroit City Council in March that the society may have to cut hours and reduce staff without the millage, The Detroit News reported.
How it reached the ballot
The path to Nov. 3 was not straightforward. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed state legislation that would have authorized the millage vote, citing what she called "an insurmountable administrative burden" and the potential to "give rise to endless litigation."
After the veto, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners and the Wayne County Commission both voted to create the Southeast Michigan Public Historical Museum Authority, which placed the question on the ballot without state legislation.
Context: the school millage that failed
Oakland County voters rejected a 1.5-mill school enhancement millage on Aug. 4 by a margin of 51% to 49%. That measure would have cost the same $100,000-taxable-value homeowner $150 a year, 7.5 times the museum proposal.
Barclay acknowledged the comparison, telling The Detroit News that polling suggests voters would support what he called a "modest ask."
Other regional cultural institutions already funded by dedicated millages include the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Zoo.
What's next
The museum millage goes before Oakland and Wayne county voters on Tuesday, Nov. 3. No local campaign events specific to Farmington or Farmington Hills had been announced as of Aug. 19.
