Monroe County Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indigent Veterans Millage

The Monroe County Department of Veterans Affairs, which the county's court papers still call the Veterans Bureau, is the county's department of veterans affairs (see the Michigan entry on county departments). Its office at 965 South Raisinville Road in Monroe (734-240-3287) initiates and develops federal, state and local claims, helps veterans enroll in VA health care, administers the county burial allowance, and coordinates emergency assistance from the Monroe County Veterans Relief Fund. The coordinator is Alvin Bond. Who runs the relief. The Veterans Affairs Committee, five members the Board of Commissioners appoints, "assist[s] indigent war-time veterans with financial assistance and county veterans burial allowance program". Its page says it meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 9 a.m. at 965 South Raisinville Road, but every posted agenda and every "next meeting" line in the 2025 and 2026 minutes names a first Tuesday. The Board's per-diem schedule pays its members $25. In 2025 and 2026 it was Edward Straub (Marine Corps) of the chair, Larry Cymbola (Army), Linda Lefcheck (Marine Corps), James Walker (Marine Corps) and Richard Gagne (Navy); the June 2, 2026 minutes record Abigail Yingling of the department recording them, where the earlier minutes had Rachael Blanks. The committee votes each month on the burial claims and emergency aid requests its agenda carries, and approves or denies them on recorded roll calls; single grants have run from about $200 to $3,200. How it is paid for. The Board levies an "Indigent Veterans" millage of 0.0250 of a mill on the winter tax bills, set with the county's other millage rates each year on the L-4029. The department's May 5, 2026 request asked for a rate sufficient to generate $203,147 from the 2026 winter tax bills to fund its planned 2027 veteran services, and the Equalization Director's table in the same packet shows the 0.1 mill maximum MCL 35.21 allows against the 0.017 the county levied the year before. It is a board-set levy, not a voted one, so it does not expire. Emergency aid. The county's emergency grant application (a Word form revised January 26, 2022) is submitted by email, fax, mail or at the office. A veteran brings the DD-214, a valid Michigan photo ID, verification of income and expenses, the utility bill, the mortgage or lease, and any foreclosure or eviction notice; a surviving spouse brings a marriage certificate and a certified death certificate. The form asks for an honorable discharge, prior VAC assistance, a financial statement of monthly household income and expenses, and what unforeseen situation caused the need. State grants. The Board accepted a FY26 County Veterans Service Fund grant of $67,048.06 on November 4, 2025 and applied for $75,585.24 for FY27 on August 18, 2026, both obligating the Veteran Affairs cost center to pay the Veterans Coordinator's general liability insurance out of county funds because the grant does not allow it.