GENESEE COUNTY, MI — Seven years after voters approved a new countywide arts education and cultural enrichment millage, the chair of the Genesee County Board of Commissioners is pushing for changes in how the proceeds are divided.
Commissioner Delrico Loyd told representatives of the Flint Cultural Center last week that he supports the institutions receiving funds from the 10-year, 0.9-mill property tax, but not “the huge disparity between what is provided to certain organizations over others.”
Loyd told millage boosters during a commissioners meeting on Sept. 10, that two Flint-based organizations — Friends of Berston Fieldhouse and the New McCree Theatre — haven’t received fair levels of support.
So far this year, Berston and McCree have each received roughly $567,000 from the millage — far less than the $4.8 million shared by the Flint Institute of Music, Whiting Auditorium, and the Capitol Theatre, and the $2.4 million collected by the Flint Institute of Science and History, including Sloan Museum of Discovery, and the Flint Institute of Arts.
“I’m only one vote (but) I’d like to see the process change,” Loyd said. “I’d like to see (money) dispersed on an equitable basis.”
Not every group needs to receive the same level of funding, he said, “but it’s got to be a fair opportunity for every entity” to grow what they do.
Mark Sinila, chief operating officer of the Flint Cultural Center Foundation, said he would talk further with commissioners, who signed off on the original distribution formula after voters approved the property tax in 2018.
Since that time, funded organizations have received disbursements roughly equal to 25% of each’s operating budget.
Smaller arts and cultural organizations in the county are also eligible for grants issued by the Greater Flint Arts Council, which this year issued $440,000 to 25 groups, including African American Drum & Dance, Flint Community Players, and the Clio Center for the Arts.
In addition to funding for the institutions, county residents receive free general admission to the FIA and Sloan as well as discounted admission or tickets to events and programs offered by groups that receive funding.
Commissioners will eventually decide whether to ask voters to renew the property tax for the arts and any other countywide millages.
They also decide each year whether to levy those millages.
Loyd said he wants Berston and McCree to have the opportunity to do more rather than continue to receive a fixed amount based on their size.
“This isn’t an indictment on any individual” or organization, he said. “It’s a concern of the disparity that exists …
“Unfortunately, it does not sound like there is a process that’s fair to those that are on the short end of the dispersal process,” he said.
Other commissioners said they want additional information about millage-funded programs or have constituents who question the value they receive in exchange for paying the tax.
“I’m deeply concerned — you know that,” Commissioner Martin Cousineau told Sinila. “We’ve had a lot of conversations over the years about how this is spent and distributed throughout the county.”
Cousineau said information he’s requested about the arts millage has been slow to come or hasn’t been delivered.
Sinila was among officials from groups that receive millage funds who updated commissioners on distributions and spending, reporting increases in individual and classroom visits to their institutions in 2024 compared to 2023.
“Genesee County is extremely fortunate to have such a diverse set of cultural institutions,” said Tracee Glab, executive director of the FIA. In 2018, “our organizations promised we would track every penny (of the millage) and we have.”
The arts millage was one of three countywide proposals approved by voters in the primary election in 2018.
40,016 voters supported the proposal, but 36,278 voted against it.
The property tax was pushed to victory on the strength of overwhelming support in Flint and Flint Township, with voters in all but two of the 76 precincts in the two municipalities approving it.
Voters in every precinct in Clio, Fenton, Grand Blanc, Linden, and Mt. Morris also supported the new tax, but it wasn’t successful everywhere.
Most voters in every precinct in the cities of Montrose and Davison voted against the millage, as did voters in every precinct of Argentine, Atlas, Clayton, Forest, Gaines, Montrose, Richfield, Thetford, and Vienna townships.
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