Eaton County voters defeated a proposed property tax increase of 3.0 mills by a vote of 26,812 yes to 28,436 no.
County officials say The Separate Tax Limitation Proposal would have addressed a budget deficit, which is projected to approach $10 million in the 2025-'26 fiscal year.
Jim Mott, Chairperson of the Eaton county Board of Commissioners, said budget cuts will hit public safety first.
"Public safety is about 65% of the budget at Eaton County, and the sheriff's department is the largest of that. So unfortunately, road patrol is going to have to be cut. A lot of the deputies will probably be first to have to go. And then, you know, we just have to work from there", he said.
Mott told WKAR the deficit that Eaton county faces is a legacy issue, years in the making.
"Unfortunately, there wasn't any action taken years ago, and I'm talking maybe 10-15 years ago, where it [county commission] needed to go to the public and the voters," he said. It wasn't any misspending. It wasn't over mismanagement of funds. It's just the fact that there wasn't any revenue increase since 1978 when the then county commissioners enacted the, you know, the 5.5 Mills at that point. And so it's just, you know, like any business or any organization, you know as time goes by and inflation and prices go up, you just, you've got to have more revenue. And there was just got to the point where we couldn't go any further without revenue. And so here, this is where we are."
On an informational webpage, Eaton county said the proposal would have cost the average taxpayer $18 per month.