Grand Traverse County voters will likely see a proposal on the August primary election ballot requesting a tax increase to fund local veterans services.

Last week a committee of the board of commissioners gave the green light to draw up draft ballot language for an operational millage as a way to address countywide department cuts of 4.25 percent in the recently approved 2016 budget. In 2015, the county's line item for its Veterans Affairs Office was $502,159.

“During the last budget process I felt badly we were going to cut veterans…and the projection is we’re going to have to cut more,” County Administrator Tom Menzel told commissioners.

Chuck Lerchen, director of veterans services for Grand Traverse, Benzie and Leelanau counties, says the goal with the millage would be to fund the entire operation, meaning a millage would transfer the line item back into the county's general fund. The office, which assists veterans or their families to access benefits, gets no direct funding from either the state or federal government. The county also is contracted to provide services to Benzie and Leelanau County veterans and receives approximately $75,000 annually to do so. Benzie funds its share with a millage.

Lerchen says requests to the board for a funding increase the last two years were denied because the money simply was not there.

“We have gone without…and it’s only going to get worse,” he says, adding that a recent critical software upgrade the office needed was ultimately funded by a private donor. “These are entitlements these veterans deserve, but they are very difficult to get. It's a very bureaucratic, complicated system and we're very successful at it."

In 2015, more than $52 million in federal veteran benefits was paid out to local veterans.

"The VA in all communities…is an integral part of most successful economies, because it's those federal dollars coming back," says Lerchen.

According to Board Chair Christine Maxbauer, if residents supported a .1-mil levy on their property tax bill for veterans services, it would raise between $450,000 and $500,000 annually to get them the services they need for the benefits they have earned. She says she supports a millage personally and supports taking it to the voters to decide.

“We really need to enhance veterans services, and the county’s financial situation is not going to get any better in the next couple of years,” adds Commissioner Bob Johnson, also a Coast Guard retiree.

Menzel says the millage idea is "worth taking a serious look at." He also recommends seeking a millage rate that not only gets the county's VA office out of the yearly financial limbo but also allows for long-term planning for expanded services. “The money stays here, helping the veterans in our area.”

Some 44 counties across the state fund their veteran services either through a property tax millage or a direct levy by the board of commissioners, according to Lerchen. Grand Rapids’ Kent County, for example, just approved a .1-mil tax last year.

“I think if we take it to the voters, it gives them some ownership,” says Johnson. “We have a lot of veteran support here.”

A successful millage campaign could also mean an enhanced veterans’ health care clinic could come sooner rather than later, notes Commissioner Sonny Wheelock.