Ann Arbor Chronicle/with poll: Public Art Commission approves Ann Arbor art tax proposal
The Ann Arbor Public Art Commission Wednesday unanimously approved putting a 0.1 mill, four-year tax for public art in the city on the Nov. 6 ballot, the Ann Arbor Chronicle reported.
The proposal still needs City Council approval. Council is expected to tackle the issue when it meets Monday. Council member Christopher Taylor proposed the millage at council’s meeting Aug. 9.
The Percent for Art program funded the Dreiseitl water sculpture outside Ann Arbor City Hall.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
If approved, Taylor said in previous AnnArbor.com reports, the millage would create a new public art program replacing the city's Percent For Art Program, which has been controversial since its inception.
Taylor said the new tax would raise nearly $460,000 in the first year and cost the average Ann Arbor household $10.97 per year ($10.86 plus a 1 percent administrative fee) or 91 cents per month. That's based on a taxable value of $108,600.
The city’s Percent for Art program sets aside1 percent of the budget for city capital projects — up to a limit of $250,000 per project — for public art.
The program has been criticized because it has diverted more than $2 million away from various city funds, including the water and sewer utilities and the streets and parks millages.
It also leaves the city's Art Commission with its hands tied — able to spend those revenues only on permanent art installations that somehow relate to the source of the funds, such the $750,000 water sculpture in front of city hall that was paid for with water and sewer utility funds.
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