Commerce: Your bills keep going up.
We are organizing concerned residents to educate their neighbors, improve public policy at the local level, and lessen our tax burden. Are you in?
Commerce's economic uncertainties by the numbers
Commerce's economic challenges are real and persistent. Here is the data behind the local failures.
The chunk of the local school district's annual budget that depends entirely on voters saying yes at the ballot box every decade or so. When that vote came up in November 2024, the district was clear: if it failed, the state would not replace a single dollar. One election stood between the school district and a permanent $33 million budget hole with no backup plan.
That is the range of property tax rates across Oakland County communities. Two neighbors in different parts of the county can own identical homes and pay dramatically different tax bills, with almost no plain-language explanation from their government about why.
How much more the typical Oakland County homeowner pays in property taxes compared to the average Michigan homeowner. At $3,235/year, Oakland County's median bill is also well above the national median, and that is before accounting for the school and special district taxes layered on top.
Michigan's national ranking for job growth as of 2024, after years of gains slowed to near zero. The state also ranks near the bottom nationally for household income. For Commerce Township residents who work across metro Detroit, the state's stagnation is a slow-moving problem that eventually shows up at home.
What's Driving It
Policy Failures
School Funding Built on Cliffhangers
In Michigan, school districts have to ask voters for permission through a property tax vote to keep the funding they rely on to operate. Walled Lake Consolidated Schools was not asking Commerce Township residents for extra money in November 2024. It was asking them to renew a tax that funds 18% of the district's entire budget. If the vote had failed, the state offered no backup. Every decade or so, the school district's financial stability gets put on the line, and a single low-turnout election can determine the outcome.
A Tax Bill Homeowners Can't Decode
Your property tax bill in Oakland County is not one tax. It is a stack of separate charges from your township, the county, your school district, the community college, and sometimes special authorities for roads, libraries, or emergency services. Rates range from 30 to 50 mills across the county. Most homeowners receive the bill, pay it, and have no real way to track what each line funds or whether it is being spent well. That lack of transparency is not an accident. It is a feature of a system that was never designed with the taxpayer in mind.
Michigan's Economic Slide Has Local Effects
Michigan created jobs at one of the slowest rates in the country in 2024, grew its economy below the national average, and has ranked near the bottom for household income for years. When the state economy underperforms year after year, it affects business investment, home values, the local tax base, and eventually the quality of the services that make a place like Commerce Township worth living in.
We Need Leaders Like You
Communities like yours need leaders to change children's outcomes. They're protected by driven residents who show up, speak out, and take action.
Education
Learn how the local government functions, how to speak at community events and to board members directly.
Connection
Connect with a growing network of neighbors who share your concerns and are ready to stand together and demand change.
Action
Get practical tools to participate in school board and other city government meetings, submit public comments, and hold local officials accountable.
Support
Ongoing help from experienced community advocates who've successfully driven change across Commerce and other parts of Michigan.
Are You In?
Submit your information and our team will personally reach out to you.
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