Southeast Michigan voters broadly supported local millage and ballot proposals in the May 6, 2025 election, with 70% of 20 millage proposals passing in the seven-county region. Recent elections have yielded an 80% success rate for local millages, so last week’s results indicate a softening of support.
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This softening was consistent across the state, where 74% of the 137 proposed millage renewals and increases passed.
Below are the overall results for millage and ballot proposals in Southeast Michigan:
Overall Millage/Ballot Proposal Results (SEMCOG Region) – May 6, 2025
- Total passed: 14, 70%
- Total failed: 6, 30%
Millage renewals and increases were almost universally supported across Southeast Michigan, with one exception: school bonding proposals, which made up almost half the millage ballot requests last week. More than half (56 percent) of the nine school bonding proposals were rejected by voters.
“School Bond” Results (SEMCOG Region) – May 6, 2025
- Total Passed: 4, 44.4%
- Total Failed: 5, 55.6%
All but one of the remaining 11 millage requests in the region were approved by voters last week, representing strong support of local government millages, as well as school operating millage renewals and increases.
“Other Millage Renewal” Results
- Total Passed: 1, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“Parks and Recreation Millage Increase” Results
- Total Passed: 1, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“Public Safety Millage Increase” Results
- Total Passed, 1, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“Road Millage Renewal” Results
- Total Passed: 1, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“School Operating Millage Renewal” Results
- Total Passed: 3, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“School Operating Millage Increase” Results
- Total Passed: 1, 100.0%
- Total Failed: 0, 0.0%
“Sinking Fund Millage Increase” Results
- Total Passed: 2, 66.7%
- Total Failed: 1, 33.3%
For individual millage descriptions and results, sorted by county and community, please see SEMCOG’s Southeast Michigan Ballot Proposal/Millage Election Results list.
ICYMI: SEMCOG Webinar Focuses on Data Storytelling to Champion Millages
Local government enjoys a higher level of trust among Americans than the state or federal levels of government. This trust is evident in the results of the above millage elections across Southeast Michigan.
With federal and state funding streams in flux, local governments and education institutions may need to turn to taxpayers increasingly to support critical services, infrastructure, and facilities improvements.
SEMCOG and Munetrix recently presented a webinar “Using Data Storytelling to Champion Millages” to educate local leaders on effectively including data to support millage requests in their communities. The webinar can be viewed below.
If there are other resources your community needs to make your millage proposals more successful, please let us know! SEMCOG is eager to help our member local governments and education institutions boost the approval rates of the region’s millages.
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