Macomb County Veterans Services and the Veterans' Millage

Macomb County Veterans Services is the county department of veterans' affairs the Board of Commissioners created under 1953 PA 192 (see the Michigan entry on county departments). A commission of seven veterans appointed by the Board oversees it and appoints its director, now Chief Veteran Service Officer Laura Rios. The county's pages call the commission the County Department of Veterans' Affairs or the Veterans Services Committee; the Board's meeting portal lists it as the Veterans' Affairs Commission and Relief Fund. It meets on the first and third Tuesdays at 11 a.m., hears relief requests in closed session and decides burial allowance applications. What the department does. Its service officers file and appeal claims for VA disability compensation, the veterans and survivors pensions, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, health care, education and burial benefits; it decides the county relief fund and the county burial allowance (each its own entry) and takes applications to the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund. It also runs a financial coaching service, which some relief applicants must use, and a free Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site that filed over 2,400 returns in 2024; its benefits page offers the tax help to veterans whatever county they live in. The coaching and tax site are paid for by a State grant the county has held since 2019 ($261,485 in the 2026 budget). Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 keeps a food bank for veterans and dependents at its hall, 18025 15 Mile Road, Clinton Township (586-776-9810, weekdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., DD-214 required). The millage. The county says the department is fully funded by the veterans' millage, a separate property tax the voters first approved for the 2008 tax year and have renewed each time since. The current authorization, approved on November 8, 2022, is 0.0690 mills for 2023 to 2026; after the required Headlee rollback the county levied 0.0680 mills in December 2025, per its Equalization Department's 2025 L-4029. In 2025 the levy brought in $2,593,289 and the fund spent $2,870,728, drawing on its reserve; the 2026 budget is $2,975,400, with no General Fund money. On the ballot November 3, 2026. The Board's Resolution 2026-15495, adopted 12 to 0 on July 23, 2026, put a renewal on the general election ballot: 0.0690 mills for 2027 to 2030, restoring the part lost to rollback, for financial aid and services for Macomb County veterans and to run the department and commission. The county estimates it would raise $2,877,813 in its first year, or $3.45 a year on a home with a taxable value of $50,000. If it fails, the authorization ends after the 2026 levy, and the commission's own minutes show it planning its budget around the vote. A stale figure. The fund description in the county's 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report still says the fund is supported by a millage of .04 mills, the rate before 2017; the levy has been about 0.068 since then. Where. 21885 Dunham Road, Suite 3, Clinton Township, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment in person, by phone, by video or by drop-off; walk-ins Tuesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Chapter 154 hall. Phone 586-469-5315 or 844-MacombVA; email [email protected].