A flier distributed by a Saginaw County township to residents advocating a “yes” vote on a millage question likely violates state campaign finance law. Despite what the Maple Grove Township officials claim is an error in the text, the flier is still illegal, according to one long-time Michigan expert on such issues.

The flier states that the Maple Grove Fire Department asks for a “yes” vote in November on a three-year property tax millage that would cost the average household $84 per year per household for three years. The millage would give the department $252,000.

Cheryl Bishop, the township treasurer, said the flier includes a misstatement and should have read “special assessment” rather than “millage.”

“When we sent the flier to residents we printed the word millage in error,” Bishop said in an email. “It should have read Special Assessment. We had consulted an attorney about the wording but the error was not caught before the mass mailing. We have the correct wording on the ballot proposal for November.”

Bishop did not respond to follow-up questions regarding the legality of the flier.

The Michigan Campaign Finance Act states that public bodies must remain neutral during elections. But the flier, sent to residents in the mail along with property tax notices, unambiguously advocates for residents to vote “yes” on a ballot measure.

“We as a department are asking for your ‘YES’ vote for a 3-year millage that would allow us to replace our outdated 1980 Chevrolet Mini Pumper,” the flier states. The flier shows pictures of the truck in use now and the proposed truck that would be purchased.

Click here to see the flier.

The fire department also said on the flier that the pump apparatus of the truck is nearing the end of its use and is increasingly expensive to repair.

Bob LaBrant, a Michigan attorney who for decades has specialized in campaign finance law, said the expressed advocacy of the flier makes it illegal under state law.

“Express advocacy (vote yes) is what makes this flier in violation of section 57 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, not the terms ‘millage’ or ‘assessment,’” he said. “Section 57 spells out what the penalties are for a violation of section 57.”

Dave Gillie, a township resident, said he received the flier in the mail sealed in the same envelope as his property taxes.

“When I saw it was actually advocating a ‘yes’ vote I was quite shocked,” he said. “It wasn’t that I disagreed with the information that they put on there.”

“It actually advocated a ‘yes’ vote using our tax dollars, which is why I had a problem with it,” he said. Gillie said he received the flier on June 28.

There are many examples of local governments distributing information that is highly favorable to tax increase proposals, but as long as they don’t expressly ask for a “yes” or “no” vote on a measure, they do not violate current state law. For example, last year the city of Rochester Hills wanted to raise property taxes for police and fire budgets, so it implied a vote on the matter was a life-or-death situation. In 2014, the Pinckney school superintendent asked voters to renew a multi-million dollar millage.

In January, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill that restricted local governments from using taxpayer dollars to advocate for tax increases within 60 days of an election. Days later, a judge granted an injunction blocking the law.

Editor's note: Maple Grove Township is in Saginaw County. The original story had the wrong county.

Shalon Miller is a Detroit Public School teacher who became the national face of the beaten down school system this year when her complaints about bad working conditions and no pay raise in 10 years were published by The Washington Post.

Like many Detroit teachers, Miller made an issue of DPS teacher pay. Earlier this year she wrote in the Washington Post: “It’s not okay to disrespect teachers by refusing to give them a pay raise in over a decade.”

Michigan Capitol Confidential submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Miller’s gross salary during her 16-year career in Detroit schools and also interviewed the special education teacher. During the interview, she provided more insight regarding her own compensation.

The backdrop for Miller's career was a school district that was imploding from a mass exodus of students and with them the state dollars each one brings. When Miller was hired for the 1999-2000 school year, DPS had 168,213 students. By 2015-16, enrollment had plummeted to 46,912. With the loss of students, the district's state aid went from $1.1 billion to $360.8 million over the course of her career.

Miller's starting salary was $45,060 in the first full year. She said that in its effort to recruit her to the district, DPS moved her ahead several “steps” on the union pay scale.

By her second full year in 2002, Miller earned $58,701. That salary was more than the top-of-the-scale pay for an employee with a bachelor’s degree and 10-years of service, which was $57,836 that year. Teacher pay is based on years of service and level of education. Miller didn’t earn her master’s degree until 2007.

Teacher compensation at any school district in Michigan can be complex due to the many ways teachers can make extra money without it technically being considered a “raise.”

Miller said throughout her career she performed extra tasks to qualify for extra pay, such as teaching summer classes.

Under the union contract, special education teachers were eligible for a bonus if they allowed the district to assign them to the school of management’s choice. The amount of the bonus was determined by the district.

Teachers could also make up to $26 an hour by taking on additional summer and evening classes. Another $4,000 could be had for coaching a sport; an additional $23 an hour was available for attending workshops.

In 2003, Miller’s salary dropped by $8,700 to $49,410. After that, the amount she earned went up and down until 2007 depending on the other duties she took on.

In 2007, Miller earned her master’s degree which she said boosted her salary by $10,000. That year, she also moved up to the last step on the union pay scale. That 10th, last step in the DPS teacher contract is the biggest jump in the scale.

The reason it is illustrates the complex factors involving a contract. A teacher at the top of the scale no longer automatically receives more pay, so future increases are loaded into the final step. For example, in 2005 a teacher moving into the final step with a master’s degree would see an increase that would take the 10th-step salary from $62,745 to $72,918. In Miller’s case, her salary jumped from $53,710 to $77,242, in part due to extra duties.

Nevertheless, that particular pay hike of nearly $24,000 came when the district had just started a nine-year spiral of spending more than its income, the end point of which was the insolvency that caused a state bailout in 2016.

Miller, who said she has three college degrees, saw her salary bounce up and down again for the next several years.

The school district implemented a 10-percent reduction in salary in 2010 and froze steps on the union pay scale.

Despite the 10 percent reduction across the scale, Miller reached the high-water mark for her own career with gross earnings of $80,347 in 2011-12. She says the boost came because she received tuition reimbursement for continuing education studies at Wayne State.

Her salary dropped by nearly $13,000 the next year to $67,684. She made $65,264 in the 2015-16 school year. The average teacher salary in 2014-15 at DPS was $63,716, the latest year salary information is available from the Michigan Department of Education.

“There are a lot of moving parts to what these salaries are,” Miller said. "People want to paint us in a negative light. I stay at DPS because I want to fight that battle. We still have kids who graduate from Michigan State even with all the ridiculous amount of obstacles in their way."

The salary and step freeze implemented in 2010 and still in effect has Miller concerned about the younger teachers in the district.

“If you were frozen on step 10, praise the Lord,” she said. “If you were frozen on step 1, oh, my God.”