WHITEHALL — As the Fruitland Township Board of Trustees considered how to move forward with a proposal to rejoin the White Lake Ambulance Authority this past autumn, they received mixed public opinion on whether the service was needed and the possible millage increase worthwhile. One common criticism of rejoining was the added cost to residents, already seen as a burden by many.
Tax rates are an ongoing complaint from Fruitland residents to the township beyond discussions of the WLAA, which prompted Fruitland Township to center the concern at its most recent town hall meeting Friday. The town hall meeting series began in February 2025, representing the current board’s goals to improve open communication between the township and its residents.
The meeting was well-attended, with over 30 Fruitland residents in attendance, alongside several board and committee members. Also in attendance and for presentations were Clerk Alexa Steffes, Treasurer Justin Roggero, Supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski and three representatives from V&V Assessing LLC: CEO Ed VanderVries, VP Kathryn Wright and assessor Vickie Warner.
The town hall began with a presentation from Steffes on Fruitland’s tax rates, how they are calculated, how revenue is spent by the Township, and how Fruitland compares to other municipalities in Muskegon County.
Also provided by Steffes was a breakdown of the various millages which impact property tax rates, including Muskegon Community College’s operating millage, Muskegon County Central Dispatch, Muskegon County Museum, the senior and veterans’ millages, Muskegon County Intermediate School District, White Lake Fire Authority, and Fruitland Township’s operating millage. Also included were the millages associated with White Lake Community Library, Muskegon Area District Library, and school millages - which are different for each resident depending on whether they are part of the Whitehall or Reeths-Puffer district.
This document not only identified the millage and dollar per $1,000 of taxable value, but also the line item’s appearance on tax bills, a contact for each associated millage recipient, and an explanation of the millage, its history, and any anticipated changes or ballot proposals.
Fruitland Township’s millage tax rates on primary residences for Whitehall's school district is 26.7678 mills, and 32.6225 mills for the Reeths-Puffer district. For non-primary residences, the rates are 44.2643 and 50.2724 for each school district, respectively.
Steffes’ presentation also gave an overview of Fruitland Township’s adopted budget revenue for the 2025-26 fiscal year, showing that 20.57% of the budget comes from Fruitland Township’s current operating tax millage rate of 0.8562. The resultant revenue totaled $302,000 for that fiscal year.
In comparison to the rest of Muskegon County's 48 separate tax rates, Fruitland Township is in the bottom half for both school districts, with Fruitland properties in Whitehall School District having the second-lowest tax rate in the county.
Following Steffes’ presentation, Roggero also discussed Fruitland Township’s 1% administration fee and what items are covered under that revenue.
For the remainder of the town hall, the township held a Q&A with VanderVries, Warner, and Wright to provide further clarity on how property assessment works and what changes facilitate a drastic increase in taxable value. Generally speaking, a new build on a desirable property that has recently been on the market and purchased will have a higher taxable value than a modest home on a small property that has stayed in the family for decades.
As one attendee noted, “When someone receives their tax bill, it seems like there’s two major factors coming into that. One is the village rate and the other is the assessment, and they both seem to be very heavily embedded policies…(The) assessment policy has almost no flexibility.”
Many of the dozen questions asked by attendees regarded concerns and hypotheticals specific to the individual. For further questions regarding assessment, VanderVries shared his contact information, which is available on Fruitland Township’s website. V&V Assessing LLC services are widely used across various municipalities across Michigan.
The date of the town hall meeting also coincided with Marcinkowski's 69th birthday, for which the township provided cake and ice cream for attendees to enjoy.
