Mayor Virg Bernero on Friday announced that Lansing will seek voter approval to renew the city’s special millage for police, fire and roads on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The 4 mills, first passed in 2011, generates about $7.7 million in annual revenue for the city.
The money is split into three allocations, with 1.5 mills each for police and fire an 1 mill for roads. That has meant police and fire each receiving about $2.9 million and roads approximately $1.9 million annually.
Bernero said he wants to expand eligibility for the road millage funds to include sidewalk repairs.
“This millage renewal is vital to maintaining the staffing levels in our police and fire departments, as well as repairing city streets and sidewalks that the State of Michigan has failed to provide sufficient funds to fix,” Bernero said in a news release. “Without the millage, we would almost certainly have to lay off police officers and firefighters and that’s simply not an acceptable option.”