Activists and Democratic fundraisers are rallying against a proposed millage for the Kent County Detention Center, arguing that approval would lead to increased division and surveillance throughout the Grand Rapids metro area.
A millage is used to calculate property taxes by dividing a dollar of taxable value into thousandths. One mill is equal to one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
Voters have currently approved five county tax millages benefitting early childhood care, seniors, veterans, the zoo and museum, and corrections and detentions. Kent County defines these millages as “a vital funding source for essential public services.”
The Millage
On the Nov. 3 ballot, Kent County voters will decide whether or not to approve a 20-year renewal and increase of the Corrections & Detention Millage.
The millage would raise property taxes per every $100,000 of taxable income from $74.17 to $98.00.
Funds generated through the millage are restricted in how they can be used. The list of acceptable uses included mental health care, medical care, transporting inmates, and substance-use treatment.
Surveillance is not one of the listed functions included on the county website about the millage. The millage funds will be used only to support corrections and detention operations and will not be used in policing or immigration enforcement.
The current millage extends through 2029, meaning no immediate changes would be made if the proposal was not approved. County officials warn, however, this could lead to major reductions in service in the future.
“If no replacement is approved before the existing authorization expires, County analysis identifies approximately $28.7 million in annual operating and debt-service support that would need to be replaced, absorbed, offset or reduced,” the county website reads.
The Grand Rapids Police Department alone brought 7,485 arrests to the Kent County Detention Center in 2025. The next closest number of arrests was the Wyoming Police Department with 1,818.
Pushback
A website organized against the millage claims, however, the millage would be used for surveillance purposes and spreading racial injustice. The site encourages voters to say no to “their poor budgeting” and “to dividing our community.”
“While we are already paying for higher gas prices, groceries, medical bills, and utility bills, the Kent County Sheriff’s Office is asking us to pay even more taxes for their lack of planning and poor handling of their obligations,” the site reads.
That site is “powered by” The UCC Power Fund, which describes itself as a “community-powered force that disrupts, dismantles, and transforms local decision-making processes.” That group is funded by the East Lansing-based nonprofit Forward Michigan, which also funded the website.
Forward Michigan received $6 million in funding in 2024. Among its donors that year were the California-based Tides Foundation, which advocates for DEI in the workplace among other issues.
Also donating were two progressive political funds, the Washington D.C.-based Sixteen Thirty Fund and Progress Michigan.
Local organizations are also pushing back against the millage. Among them is immigration activist group Movimento Cosecha, which was involved in a demonstration that shut down a meeting of the Grand Rapids City Commission last month.
Movimento Cosecha shared a video via Facebook Monday showing some of its members speaking out against the millage. One of the group’s members argued during the presentation that the millage would be used to assist federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Grand Rapids.
“On our way to abolish ICE, we can do something locally,” organizer Gema Lowe said. “To abolish ICE at the federal level is a big task but it can be done.”
Lowe also claimed the Kent County Sheriff’s Office currently receives money from ICE and is therefore “double dipping” with the millage.
Also speaking at that event was Jeff Smith, who helps organize Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE and writes about his activism via his website. Smith, who has repeatedly been arrested for protesting ICE, claimed Kent County would use the millage for surveillance purposes.
“The Sheriff’s Department has admitted that they’re monitoring activist groups, social change groups, whatever you want to call them,” he said. “That should scare the hell out of all of us. It’s just another reason why we should vote no on this millage because they don’t need any more damn money than they already have.”
“They’re wasting it on things that violate our civil liberties, they violate our civil rights and we shouldn’t put up with that in any way,” he added.
Write to jackson@grherald.com