Kent County Veterans Services and the Veterans Millage

Kent County Veterans Services is the county's department of veterans affairs (see the Michigan entry on county departments). A seven-member committee, one of them a county commissioner and the rest veterans, oversees it; the county describes the committee's job as making sure county-funded veterans assistance "is provided appropriately and fairly". It meets monthly at the department. The director is Ryan Grams. What it does. Its service officers file service-connected disability claims, VA pensions and survivors pensions, retrieve service records, help with discharge upgrades and notarize documents, and it runs the county's Soldiers and Sailors Relief Fund and burial allowance (each its own entry), helps with Michigan Veterans Trust Fund applications and issues a county veteran ID card. It also pays grants to outside programmes for veterans in the county, from dental care to home repairs (their own entry). Who it serves. The department says a veteran or surviving spouse may be eligible for its help with at least 90 days of active duty in a war period and an honorable or general discharge, not counting Guard or reserve training. Its own page then makes exceptions: a service-connected disability claim needs no wartime service, and relief grants need a discharge under honorable conditions and Kent County residence but no wartime service. Residents of other counties are sent to their own county office. The millage. Kent County voters first approved a veterans millage in 2011. In 2022 they renewed it, raising the rate to 0.050 mill and extending it through 2029; Headlee rollbacks have since brought it to 0.0491 mill for 2025, or $4.91 a year on $100,000 of taxable value. The county says it raised about $1.6 million in fiscal 2025 and pays for nine staff positions. It is not on the ballot again until its 2029 expiry approaches. Where. 836 Fuller Avenue NE, Grand Rapids, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; phone 616-632-5722, email [email protected]. The department's Community Resource Guide lists health care, emergency help, home repair and legal resources.