HART - Tuesday, June 9, Hart City Council held two public hearings and as a result, adopted the city’s 2026 millage rates and levy for FY 2026-27, as well as the city’s FY 2026-27 annual budget (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027).
With the approval of Resolution 2026-28 the city’s 2026-27 millage rate will be 11.8589 for Operating, 1.8702 for Streets (voted on November 2024) and 0.4682 for Cemeteries (voted on November 2018) for a total millage of 14.1973. With this vote an additional $27,000 will be collected for city services.
According to City Manager Nichole Kleiner, the city’s property-assessed value has increased 11.9% from last fiscal year, “Which is a good thing.”
According to a Michigan Municipal League fact sheet, “Headlee (1978 state constitutional amendment) requires a local unit of government to reduce its millage when annual growth on existing property is greater than the rate of inflation. As a consequence, the local unit’s millage rate gets 'rolled back' so that the resulting growth in property tax revenue, community-wide, is no more than the rate of inflation.”
Kleiner shared the following key points to keep in mind: voters originally authorized 17.5 mills; Headlee rollbacks have reduced the city’s maximum levy to 14.1973 mills; the city has lost 3.3027 mills of taxing authority over time; and Truth in Taxation does not restore lost millage; it only allows the city to levy the full Headlee-adjusted rate. Kleiner also emphasized that this is not a “new” tax. The public hearing allows the council to levy the full millage already authorized under law after the Headlee rollback has been applied.
Councilor Andrew Mullen added, “The 14.1973 is actually lower than what voters approved originally. Because property value has increased, we are able to capture some additional funds due to the Headlee rollback.”
With regards to the city’s 26-27 budget, Kleiner began by saying the council had held two different workshops and gone through every line item prior to coming up with the proposed budget. Total revenues equal $13,296,136 and total expenses equal $12,492,543, leaving a projected balance of $804,083.
During public comment, BioPure Superintendent Paul Cutter wanted to commend Kleiner for the way she kept everyone informed and involved throughout the process and how much he appreciated being included in discussions. “In 33 years of being here, I think that was the first budget meeting I ever had,” he said.
With the newly passed budget, the city looks to have a busy year ahead. Some of the many projects include: the downtown development and streetscape, the Safe Routes to School project, the MDOT State Street turnback, the repurposing of chalets at John Gurney Park, a website upgrade to ADA compliance, City Hall HVAC updates, and the MDOT turnback project.
Mullen said he appreciated the work Kleiner had done to get the council the information they needed to not only be able to create a balanced budget but, “...put a little away so we can be ready, because stuff happens.”
Other resolutions approved on June 9 included: Resolution 2026-29 adoption of electric, water, sewer and solid waste rates for FY 26-27 (based on recent cost of service and rate studies, and financial planning and debt repayment schedules), new rates are posted on the city’s website (www.cityofhart.org) and will go into effect with July 1, 2026; Resolution 2026-31 authorization to enter into an agreement with Permission Base for website redesign, migration, hosting, ADA compliance, and training, in an amount not to exceed $20,000 for implementation, and $5,100 annually for ongoing platform and reservation system services; and Resolution 2026-32 authorizing the city manager to negotiate terms with Everest Infrastructure Partners regarding a telecommunications easement and related lease assignment for the water tower site.
The council went into closed session to consider Resolution 2026-30 Ratify Union Bargaining Agreement Police and Utility. Following the closed session, the resolution passed unanimously.
