Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department in Oshtemo

As voters in Kalamazoo County head to the polls Tuesday, they're being asked to renew a millage that provides funding to an array of law enforcement services in the county.

(Kalamazoo Gazette file)

KALAMAZOO, MI -- As voters in Kalamazoo County head to the polls Tuesday, May 3, they're being asked to renew a property tax that provides funding to an array of law enforcement services in the county.

If the renewal of the law enforcement millage passes, the county will continue to levy 1.4491 mills, which will provide about $11.8 million annually for the sheriff's office, prosecutor's office, courts, community corrections and animal services and enforcement.

The levy, if approved, will cost the homeowner of a $150,000 house about $109 a year.

The millage has been on the books since 1980 and county voters have approved renewals of the levy every six years since then. Most recently, in 2010, the renewal passed by a better than 3-to-1 margin.

"The millage is just a part of the tools in the tool kit that we utilize to make sure that services across the county are maintained where they are today," Sheriff Rick Fuller said.

Fuller said his agency, as well as others in the county, depend on the millage to help fund operations and staff positions. At the sheriff's office, funds from the millage help to pay for about 32 percent of the agency's staff.

Fuller said 48 percent of the staff at the prosecutor's office is funded by the millage, as well as 13 circuit court employees.

While Fuller is hopeful that the renewal will pass, Charleston Township Supervisor Jerry VanderRoest questions whether residents have gotten their money's worth out of the 36-year-old tax.

VanderRoest, who plans to take his concerns to the County Board of Commissioners on election day Tuesday, said voters have consistently approved the renewal of the law-enforcement millage only to see a decrease in the number of deputies in the sheriff's patrol division.

At the same time, VanderRoest noted, the county's population has grown by 48,000 people since 1980.

"I want people to be aware that we have less deputies, call their county commissioner and say we need more deputies on the road, we need more patrols," said VanderRoest.

Fuller said he currently has 38 deputies, eight sergeants, two lieutenants and a captain assigned to his Uniformed Services Section, which is responsible for road patrols in the county. He said he would like to add to those numbers but budget constraints make it difficult.

The sheriff said that while his agency may have had more deputies on the road in 1980 than today, it has more detectives and jail personnel than it did 36 years ago.

"I know what we have designed these dollars to go to and what we try very hard to do is strike that balance between how we operate today and how we would like to operate," Fuller said. "... To want to focus merely on a road-patrol model would cause a failure or harm throughout different parts of the operation."

Rex Hall Jr. is a reporter for MLive.com. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.