For the third time this year, county electors will be asked to approve a property tax question – this time a new levy to fund sheriff’s road patrol officers.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved the language for the Nov. 5 ballot question, which would increase property taxes by as much as 1.45 mills for six years specifically to support the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office Road Patrol division. That earmarked funding would include staffing, operations, equipment, communications and notifications.

If approved in November, the levy is estimated to raise nearly $3.74 million in the first year alone.

One mill equals $1 tax per $1,000 of assessed property value. For the owner of a $100,000 home, the question would mean $145 in extra taxes each year.

Sheriff Michael Main told board members during a work session on Tuesday that the decision was “probably the most important (agenda item) of my tenure.”

Earlier that day, he said, he watched deputies track and safely arrest a pair of known, wanted felons who were in the county. The team -- acting with the help of supporting agencies -- used a drone and working dogs to find the suspects and flush them out of hiding, he said. While the individuals aren’t thought to have played a role in any crimes here, they were wanted by nearby jurisdictions.

“We were able to get them out of the community, and that’s what we do every single day,” Mains said. “That’s what law enforcement does … every single day.”

The millage would support road patrol deputies, sergeants, detectives and the equipment, communications functions and training they need to do their jobs, Mains said. Those 22 staffers answer an average of 1.8 calls per hour, he said.

Jerry Jaloszynski, the chair of the county Finance and Administration Committee, said the county has made “painful” cuts to nearly every facet of government in preparing its 2025 budget.

In February, voters rejected by a nearly 3-1 margin a ballot question that could have add nearly $6.15 million to the cash-strapped coffers. Years of general-fund borrowing have kept the county operating, but Jaloszynski said that isn't fiscally responsible or sustainable.

The February vote set the clock ticking on a scramble to balance the books and keep expenses under the $24.2 million in revenues projected for next fiscal year. Since road patrol deputies aren’t mandated under the county’s policies, they are at risk of being eliminated.

“We’ve made those cuts,” Jaloszynski said. “We brought it down the point where we made every cut we could, and we still cannot afford the road patrol services with the 6.61 mills the county gets.

“This is a vital service to the county,” he continued. “It’s not anything the county board wants to do, but we have no choice, because the dollars won’t be there to support it.”

So it’s really up to the voters.

“Counties aren’t any different than the families out in the communities -- they’re hit hard by various cost increases, but we must be fiscally responsible and work within those dollars we have,” Jaloszynski said. “We’re going to do the best we can, and we’re going to ask the voters whether they want to see the continuation of road patrol services in November.”

The board voted, 5-0 with two commissioners absent, to set the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot. The decision came as polls closed on a trio of questions that would extend the existing caps on county operations levies.

Unofficial results finalized shortly after midnight Wednesday showed all three proposals passed.