Michigan County Veterans Relief Fund

1899 PA 214 is the oldest continuously operating veterans program in Michigan and the one almost nobody has heard of. The levy is mandatory. The county board of commissioners of each county shall annually levy a tax, not exceeding one-tenth of a mill on each dollar of taxable property, to create a fund for the relief of honorably discharged indigent members of the armed forces and the indigent spouses, minor children and parents of each indigent or deceased member who served during a period of war. In a year the board considers an emergency it may appropriate up to two-tenths of a mill. Unspent money stays in the county treasury as a soldiers' relief fund and is taken into account when setting future levies. Who administers it. The judge of probate in each county appoints three veterans who are county residents and who were honorably discharged, to a soldiers' relief commission, for staggered three-year terms. Members file the constitutional oath with the probate court and are entitled to reasonable compensation fixed by the county board. The probate judge may remove a member for cause. A county that has created a county department of veterans' affairs under 1953 PA 192 transfers the commission's powers and duties to that department instead. How relief is determined. Each township and ward supervisor, or the aldermen where there is no ward supervisor, must place in the commission's hands a list of everyone entitled to relief on or before the last Monday in September. On the first Monday in October the commission determines the amount necessary for aid and relief and records it. The commission may determine both the sum and the manner of payment, and may discontinue relief in its discretion. The appeal. A decision may be appealed to the circuit court by certiorari, by filing an application with the clerk within 15 days following the decision. The court hears the case de novo and its decision is final. A de novo circuit court hearing is a real remedy and the 15 days is a short fuse. The emergency provision, and its figure. Section 35.24 lets a supervisor or alderman, where it is inconvenient to consult a commission member, draw an order on the county treasurer for a sum not to exceed ten dollars in a case of sickness, accident or death needing relief, certifying the action to the commission afterwards. Ten dollars was set in 1899 and has never been amended. The commission may then grant such further relief as it considers necessary, provided no claim is allowed that would create a deficiency in the fund. The period of war test is the same as the Trust Fund's: 38 CFR 3.2 with Michigan's Vietnam era dates. The fund may also be spent on the relief of indigent spouses and children of active duty service members during hostilities and before discharge. Where this sits next to the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund pays a one-off grant from state investment earnings through a committee of veterans. This is a county property tax levy paying ongoing relief through a commission appointed by a judge. A veteran in need can approach both, and in many Michigan counties the same county department of veterans' affairs staffs both doors.