Big Question: Will Metro Voters Support DIA With New Tax?

After much debate, the Detroit Institute of Arts finally finally has a 0.2-mill property tax on the Aug. 7 ballot for voters in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties.

Now museum officials must begin selling the new tax to metro Detroit voters. The millage would raise up to $23 million a year and cost the owner of a home with a taxable value of $75,000 about $15 a year.

"Our real job starts now," Annmarie Erickson, executive vice president for the DIA, told the Free Press. "We've got to do mailings to catch the absentee-ballot voters, and we've got to raise between $1 (million) and $2 million for the campaign."

Oakland County was the last to vote. Its Board of Commissioners agreed Thursday to create an authority to oversee the millage. After two hours of heated debate, the board voted 15-9 to allow the millage proposal on the primary ballot.