Rochester Hills Votes to Fund Police Services for Next 10 Years

Voters in Rochester Hills voiced their overwhelming support of a plan to fund police services for the next decade.

The police funding millage passed:

• 9,047 voted yes (69.79 percent).
• 3,916 voted no (30.21 percent).

The millage plan, drafted by a citizen-led committee after dozens of community meetings over the past three years, renews for 10 years the 1.2083 mills that expire at the end of 2013. It also levies an additional 2.5 mills for police services.

Police services in Rochester Hills are currently funded through the expiring special police millages as well as funds from the city's general fund.

In approving the draft ballot language in May, Rochester Hills City Council approved a resolution promising to reduce the general fund millage levy by 2.5 mills — in essence clarifying that this would not be a tax increase. 

Police services in Rochester Hills are contracted through the . That costs about $9 million a year.