Saginaw County Soldiers and Sailors Relief Commission

Michigan requires every county to keep a fund for the relief of indigent wartime veterans and their families (MCL 35.21; see the Michigan entry on the county veterans relief fund), and MCL 35.22a has the county board elect a soldiers' and sailors' relief commission of three electors to decide claims. Saginaw County's salary schedule pays three "Veterans Relief Commission" members $1,200 a year each, in every budget from 2023 to FY2027, and the county appropriates $8,000 a year to account 99520, Contr-SoldiersRelief, in Fund 293 Veterans Relief. The Budget/Audit Committee's September 2023 report records "approved reinstatement of funding to the County's Soldiers & Sailors Relief Commission of $8,000", so the $8,000 is a restored line, not a levy: the county's 2026 L-4029 carries no veterans millage, and the 2023 L-4029, a scan read by OCR on 2026-10-13, likewise lists none - its eight levies are operating, senior citizens, and animal control, castle museum, event center and similar voted lines. What the commission does is not published. It does not appear among the county's boards and commissions, the county site has no page for it, its relief process has no application form online, and neither the compiled 2023 nor 2024 minutes record a single relief claim. A Saginaw County veteran who needs the fund should call the county at 989-790-5267 and ask for the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Commission; the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund agent at the Veteran Service Hub (989-793-9560) is the other door for emergency aid (see the Michigan entry). A refusal by the commission can be taken to the circuit court within 15 days (MCL 35.23; see the Michigan entry).