Livingston County Veteran Services and the Veterans Services Millage

The Livingston County Veteran Services office is the county's department of veterans affairs (see the Michigan entry on county departments), at 1420 Lawson Drive, Howell (517-546-6338, fax 517-546-0942), weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The county's budget book states its warrant: the department "is responsible for administering all types of assistance, aid, help, counseling, and referral as is provided under Michigan law, PA 192 of 1953" - the act codified at MCL 35.621 - and serves "the 10,000 veterans residing in Livingston County". Director Ramon Baca leads a team of three Veterans Benefits Counselors, an office manager, an administrative specialist and three drivers. The committee. The Veteran Services Committee is the statutory body MCL 35.621 has the Board appoint: five veterans - Chair Robert Stants (Afghanistan, term to December 31, 2026), Vice Chair Joseph Riker (Iraq, 2026), Marco Lollio (Vietnam, 2029), Jim Wallace (Vietnam Era, 2028) and Secretary Bruce Hundley (Vietnam, 2028). Its Board Manager page schedules its meetings for the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. at the office, and its agenda runs from the pledge to "Applications for Relief" to the director's report; its March 16, 2026 special meeting approved the millage ballot language, and its new member that month was welcomed in the office's own newsletter. The millage. County voters approved a 0.1127 mill veterans services millage on November 8, 2022. The 2026 Veterans L-4029 lists the millage's Headlee-reduced rate at 0.1110 and requests 0.0956 mills on the December tax bill against a taxable value of $13,884,831,294, expiring December 31, 2027; the Board levied the 0.0956 on August 24, 2026 (Resolution 2026-08-089, on Equalization Director Brendan Scheitz's memo). The renewal - Resolution 2026-03-037 (March 23, 2026) - put "up to 0.1117 of one (1) mill ($0.1117 per $1,000.00 of taxable value) for a period of six (6) years, from 2028 through 2033" on the August 4, 2026 ballot, estimated at $1,600,000 in the first year, and the county's Local Proposal Report counts it carried: 39,666 yes (71.39 percent) to 15,895 no. The money. Fund 295, the Veterans Services Fund, is the county's 2026 adopted budget at $1,307,600 of revenue - $1,207,500 of it taxes - against $1,248,368 of spending for 8.96 positions, with $190,000 in supportive services; the county's millage table shows the veterans rate "voted through 2027". Alongside it run fund 297 for the County Veteran Service Fund grant ($68,982 of state money in 2026, the grant the state pays under MCL 35.623a), fund 293, the small Veterans Relief Fund (its own entry), and fund 233, a Veteran's Donation Fund.