BD board fails to answer questions

The transparency of the Britton Deerfield (BD) Board of Education has come into question after some residents were surprised to find in November that their 2023 winter tax bills included a doubled winter school millage rate. At issue is the revelation that the superintendent and the school board had knowledge of a 2022 tax form mistake as early as January 2023, but did not inform community members of the repercussions of that mistake.

A line item missing on the 2022 Tax Rate Request form signed by Superintendent Stacy Johnson in August 2022 resulted in a district loss of $328,860 from school bond taxes on some 1,400 properties that winter. To recover the lost funds, the district drew $328,860 from the Michigan Department of Treasury School Bond Qualification and Loan Program on April 21, 2023, but the loan was not officially approved by the board until August 21. In addition, at the June 26 meeting the board voted to increase the school millage rate from 2.73 to 5.61 for 2023. That increase in millage tax will go toward paying back the Treasury loan, which has accrued interest in the amount of $10,043.97 since it was issued in April.  

Some BD district residents are now engaging in a process to recall some of the board members, citing a lack of transparency and communication with the community. Tyler Gibbs, who is in charge of the recall process, said he is waiting on confirmation on which board members can be recalled. Due to timing and the need to acquire 600 signatures on the recall petition once a judge approves it, Gibbs said there won’t be a recall election until November.

“I would say everyone in support of the recall definitely agrees there are honesty and transparency issues with the board and Stacy,” said Gibbs.

In response to a full house of district residents and various commenters at the December 18 school board meeting, Board Secretary Adam Roehm said there was a discussion in January regarding the millage tax deficit.

“We only knew our only legal option was to assess that millage,” Roehm said, possibly referring to the change on June 26 where the board voted to increase the millage amount.

At that December meeting, resident Jennifer Grudnoski said she appreciated what the board and superintendent do, “But when this came out that our winter taxes were being doubled and that it hadn’t been communicated with us, that’s what was upsetting for me. Not that a mistake was made,” she said. “What frustrated and disappointed me was that there was no communication… This is the first time where I have felt that the response to this issue is at best disingenuous and at worst, dishonest.”

On January 7 The Herald sent several questions to all BD board members and Johnson requesting information on how the board made public decisions on this matter. A search of the minutes for school board meetings from January 16 to June 19, 2023, found no mention of the school tax millage, nor of discussion of a Treasury loan, in any of those documents. The first time the millage was noted to be addressed at a meeting that year, according to public documents, was at the meeting on June 26 with the topic “Tax Rates.” There were no topic listings for a Treasury loan on any of the board meeting dates.  

Besides Hudson Area Schools, Britton Deerfield Schools is the only other district in Lenawee County that does not provide online agendas to the public prior to school board meetings. All other districts have school board agendas easily accessible on their websites. BD has a listing of meeting dates on its board of education page, with topics that do not always correspond to what is presented in meetings.

In her response, Johnson said, “Board agendas are not legally required and are not posted in advance. The school board’s business generally conforms to an agenda, but discussion items regularly come up that are not included on an agenda. The board calendar on the school website serves only as a guide for routine school business and is subject to change.”

The Herald asked how the decision was made to draw the loan from the Treasury; whether the board made that decision or Johnson did it on her own; and why the loan was not officially approved by the board until four months after the loan was drawn.  

Johnson said that at the January 2023 meeting the board granted the superintendent and business office the authority to sign contracts and enter into electronic transactions consistent with the budget. “Consistent with that authority, and with the board’s full knowledge, the district pursued a short-term loan to cover the budget shortfall caused by not having the full tax levy,” she said. She stated that the bond issue is qualified under the State of Michigan’s School Bond Qualification and Loan Program, and if there is a deficiency in the tax revenues needed to make a payment on a qualified bond issue, the State of Michigan is required to loan money to make up that deficiency, and the school district is obligated to accept that loan from the State. She did not address the four-month-long lag in board approval of the loan.

 The Herald inquired about the lack of documentation in board minutes or listings regarding the missing millage taxes. Johnson stated that the district held a budget hearing on June 26, 2023, and the community was provided written notice of the hearing where the millage amount was changed. The listing on the district’s website does say “Tax Rates” but does not mention the millage.

 Johnson wrote, “We discovered in January 2023 that local municipalities in Lenawee County did not include the voter-approved debt millage on the winter 2022 tax bill. In contrast, municipalities in Monroe County did include the voter-approved debt millage on that tax bill. Once this issue was discovered, we immediately contacted school legal counsel and notified the Board of Education. The board discussed this matter at its January organizational meeting, at a board workshop in April, at the June budget hearing, at the June board meeting, at a July board workshop, and again at an August board meeting.” She did not answer why the millage tax topic was omitted in board documents, nor the error on the tax form that caused local Lenawee County municipalities to omit the millage on winter 2022 tax bills.

Johnson correctly stated that taxpayers were only catching up by paying this year for the 2022 debt millage that was delayed by one year, but failed to respond to questions regarding the board’s and superintendent’s lack of clear communication with the public that there was a need to remedy a millage tax issue.  

Although Johnson has stated that the district had no way to inform residents of the tax form mistake and subsequent millage rate changes, the district did have the option of notifying residents by mail, as evidenced by the topic she brought up at the June 19 school board meeting where she discussed mailing a newsletter or postcard to those in the district, and the board gave a directive to have a postcard made featuring the positive things that BD offers and sent out prior to the beginning of the school year.