One Year Later: Street & Sidewalk Millage Dollars Hard at Work

It’s been one year since East Grand Rapids voters approved the 2024 Streets and Sidewalk Improvement millage, a community-driven investment in safer, smoother and more accessible neighborhood infrastructure. Over the past year, we have put these funds to work through expanded maintenance and rehabilitation efforts, with a strong focus on both the longevity of our roads and the walkability of our community.

With the additional funding, we have enhanced the annual Sidewalk Rehabilitation and Replacement program – an initiative that keeps neighborhoods safe by addressing damaged or aging sidewalks on a rotating schedule. Each year, Public Works staff conducts detailed inspections of a targeted area, ensuring resources are used efficiently within the approved budget and prioritizing the areas of greatest need.

For the 2024-25 construction season, crews have been hard at work assessing and replacing deteriorated sidewalk segments, leveling uneven slabs and improving accessibility along routes that serve schools, parks and residential corridors. 

We have replaced 843 individual sidewalk slabs and completed 412 feet of sidewalk trip hazard grinding, utilizing $150,000 of millage dollars to rehabilitate and replace sidewalks in targeted areas. 

Road improvements included a federally funded Plymouth Road improvement, supported by an $887,000 grant, and new bike lanes along Reeds Lake Boulevard from Lakeside Drive to the north arm of Reeds Lake Boulevard and along Plymouth Road from Hall Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Street. Additionally, the traffic signal at Breton Road and Hall Street was replaced with a box span configuration along with pedestrian safety enhancements to the intersection.

In total, approximately 50 miles of streets and 80 miles of sidewalks have been improved thanks to millage dollars. 

We also continue to evaluate and respond to reported concerns that meet rehabilitation or replacement criteria, ensuring that resident input helps guide improvement efforts.

Planning is already underway for future sidewalk and trail improvements to maintain a routine inspection and project cycle across all neighborhoods. We remain committed to balancing ongoing maintenance with strategic reinvestments that continue to improve connectivity, safety and accessibility.

The first year of the millage has already made a visible difference in how residents move through the community – whether commuting to school, jogging around the lake or strolling to the local park. With steady reinvestment and continued community involvement, we look forward to building on this progress in the years ahead, ensuring that East Grand Rapids remains a connected, accessible and welcoming place for everyone.

The 2024 Ask

The 2024 millage asked East Grand Rapids voters to restore the 2015 millage at the previously approved rate of 2.0 mills for the next 10 years to continue funding the improvement, repair, maintenance and construction of:

• Streets 
• Sidewalks
• Storm drains located in right-of-ways  
• Traffic safety infrastructure

The proposed 2024 millage is designed to recover losses from Headlee rollbacks, which had reduced the millage rate to 1.7307, and continue to invest in City streets and sidewalks.  

The millage rate would last 10 years, if approved – covering 2025 through 2034, resulting in approximately $1,962,090 in revenue when first levied in July 2025. 

The Continued Need

As the 2015 street and sidewalk millage expired in May 2024, 88.9% of East Grand Rapids streets were rated as fair-excellent on the pavement surface evaluation and rating by the Grand Valley Metro Council scale in 2023 – a nearly 40% improvement from 2015 when the original street and sidewalk millage was approved by voters. During the past decade, East Grand Rapids has invested more than $13.8 million in millage dollars to repair streets and sidewalks in every neighborhood of the city. 

Major highlights include upgrading 47.26 miles of city streets, rehabilitating and replacing sidewalks in targeted areas and removing sidewalk trip hazards. 

Even with these upgrades, however, continued funding is needed to maintain current street and sidewalk conditions, as well as recover the rising costs of asphalt and construction expenses. 

If voters approve the millage, East Grand Rapids will continue to take a comprehensive approach to maintain, rebuild and replace the City’s streets, sidewalks, utility networks and traffic infrastructure, with initial investment plans including:

• Continuing routine and preventative maintenance to increase the lifespan of streets currently in good condition
• Conducting preservation treatments and repaving approximately 4.5-6 miles of streets per year
• Replacing and rehabilitating sidewalks
• Improving accessibility of pedestrian facilities, in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act
• Replacing traffic signals as needed 

If the Millage Is Not Approved

If the millage renewal is not approved by voters, the City will use only general fund dollars as allowed to maintain and improve roads, resulting in a far lower annual spend on roads and sidewalks.

Absent consistent spend on streets and sidewalks, Public Works will do its best to manage declining conditions over time; however, residents may face worse road conditions without consistent maintenance.

Ongoing maintenance is critical to prolong the lifespan of a road and minimize construction disruptions for residents – it is far more economical to maintain our current roads than to reconstruct them completely. 

Calculate Your Cost

To calculate your annual millage cost, take the taxable value of your home and then multiply by 0.002.

For reference, for a home with a taxable value of $280,000, the annual cost would be $560 in property tax. 

Since the expiring tax rate is 1.7307 mills, if approved at 2.0 mills, the net increase would be $75 annually.   

If approved by voters, the millage would be collected beginning with the July 2025 tax bill for the next 10 years. 

Understanding Headlee Rollbacks

The Headlee Amendment is a 1978 state law that limits how much property taxes can increase each year. If the value of all the property in a municipality increases more than the rate of inflation, local governments must lower the property tax rate – known as a “Headlee rollback.”

These fluctuations can create challenges for local governments working to fund public services – including streets. To offset Headlee rollbacks, local governments can ask voters to approve a “Headlee override,” giving voters a say in local property taxes and funding public services.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the City asking voters?
    East Grand Rapids will ask voters to consider a 10-year millage to improve streets and sidewalks on the Aug. 6 ballot. This millage both renews the 1.7307 mills expiring with the 2024 tax levy and restores the 0.2693 mill lost because of Headlee rollbacks from the previous street and sidewalk millage for a total of 2.0 mills. 
2. Why is this millage necessary?
    The original 2015 Street and Sidewalk Millage expires this year. Continued funding is needed to maintain current street and sidewalk conditions, as well as recover the rising costs of asphalt and construction expenses. Additionally, ongoing maintenance is critical to prolong the lifespan of a road and minimize construction disruptions for residents.
3. If passed, how much would I pay annually?
    To calculate your annual millage cost, take the taxable value of your home (home value divided by two) and then multiply by 0.002.
4. What does the City plan to do with the millage dollars, if passed?
   East Grand Rapids will continue to take a comprehensive approach to maintain, rebuild and replace the City’s streets, sidewalks, utility networks and traffic infrastructure, with initial investment plans including:
   • Continuing routine and preventative maintenance to increase the lifespan of streets currently in good condition
   • Conducting preservation treatments and repaving approximately 4.5-6 miles of streets per year
   • Replacing and rehabilitating sidewalks
   • Improving accessibility of pedestrian facilities, in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act
   • Replacing traffic signals as needed 
5. What happens if the millage is not passed?
   The City will use only general fund dollars as allowed to maintain and improve roads, resulting in a far lower annual spend on roads and sidewalks. Public Works will do its best to manage declining conditions over time; however, residents may face worse road conditions without consistent maintenance. 
6. What are Headlee rollbacks? 
   Headlee rollbacks refer to the 1978 state law that limits how much municipal property taxes can increase each year. If the value of all the property in a municipality increases more than the rate of inflation, local governments must lower the property tax rate – known as a “Headlee rollback.” To offset Headlee rollbacks, local governments can ask voters to approve a “Headlee override,” to recover funding lost as a result.
7. Is early voting available?
   Yes. For the Aug. 6 election, the City will offer nine days of early voting in Room 105 in the Community Center, 750 Lakeside Drive SE, at the following times:
   • 8 a.m.-4 p.m. July 27
   • 8 a.m.-4 p.m. July 28
   • 9 a.m.-5 p.m. July 29
   • 9 a.m.-5 p.m. July 30
   • 11 a.m.-7 p.m. July 31
   • 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 1
   • 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 2
   • 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 3
   • 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 4

Learn more about elections in East Grand Rapids here.