Jackson County Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Committee

The Jackson County Veterans Affairs office is the county's department of veterans affairs (see the Michigan entry on county departments), run under a four-member Veterans Affairs Committee, the body MCL 35.621 has the Board appoint - three to seven veterans, at least one on a chartered organization's recommendation. The committee's own page states its duties: "to check verification of burial claims, set policies of Veterans Office, be informed of veterans legislation (old and new), and assess the budget"; applicants need a Recommendation for Appointment form from a chartered veterans organization and their DD-214. The committee sits monthly at noon in the VA conference room and its minutes travel with the county's Human Services packets (Dave Welihan, James Ducey, David Mooberry and Richard Arnold sit on it, with terms to 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030). The office. 1715 Lansing Avenue, Jackson (517-788-4425, fax 517-780-4719), weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Phil McCaskey is the Veteran Service Officer/Director and Stephanie Allan the administrative clerk. An accredited American Legion service officer sees veterans in the office Tuesdays and Fridays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. by appointment - the budget document counts the Legion partnership as four additional accredited officer-days a month - and a social worker from the Dearborn Vet Center holds clinic twice a month under an MOU at no cost to the veteran or the county, a programme now serving about twenty veterans. What the office does. Its Benefits for Veterans page lists compensation and pension claims, appeals, VA debt applications, healthcare enrolment, marker and burial benefit applications, DIC and record requests, plus community referrals. The department's December 2025 semi-annual report counts 1,481 calls answered and 569 appointments or visits over six months; the budget document counts 5,100 calls and 680 appointments a year and reports that the county's VA GDX extract counts more than 10,000 county veterans drawing $44.5 million in VA money. The office also recruits and manages the volunteers who drive veterans to Ann Arbor VA appointments on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - pickups at 7:30 a.m. at the JATA Transfer Center, 127 W. Cortland, and the County Jail lot, 1995 Chanter Road; book two business days ahead at 517-788-4425. The levy. There is none for veterans: the county's 2026 L-4029 tax rate request carries the operating levy (5.0154 mills requested for 2026, on the summer bill) and voted millages for the medical care facility (0.2450), senior services (0.5905), Lifeways (0.4896), parks (0.4903) and animal control (0.2450), all on the winter bill, and nothing for veterans. The office is a general-fund line: $160,013 budgeted for 2026 ($148,535 was spent in 2025), with the 2027-2028 budget the Board began considering in September 2026 proposing $174,044 and the department's own budget document drafting $188,657. The department reports to the Board's Human Services Committee, which takes its semi-annual reports.