IRON MOUNTAIN — Property tax rates will drop this year in Kingsford and Breitung Township — due to a reduction in the school debt millage — while rising slightly in all other Dickinson County municipalities except Iron Mountain.

The debt millage for the Breitung Township School District is 2.66 mills, or $2.66 per $1,000 of taxable value, down from 4.9 mills in 2018. That reduction of 2.24 mills is the most significant change in the 2019 Apportionment Report prepared by the county’s equalization office.

With the drop in the school rate, resident homeowners in Breitung Township will pay a tax rate of 25.3527 mills, or $25.35 per $1,000 of taxable value, down 8% from a year ago.

Kingsford’s tax rate for resident homeowners, previously the highest in the county at 45.7097 mills, will fall by 4.6% to 43.5857 mills, or $43.59 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Iron Mountain’s tax rate will dip by 0.5% but now is the highest in the county at 44.0236 mills, or $44.02 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Tax rate increases in 2019 will range from 0.7% in Breen and Sagola townships to 1.7% in Norway and Waucedah townships.

In the North Dickinson County School District, the debt levy will rise slightly to 1.9645 mills, up from 1.84 mills. Iron Mountain’s school debt levy this year is 4.75 mills, a decline of 0.29 mills, while Norway-Vulcan’s is 4.2 mills, a drop of 0.1 mills.

Felch Township’s total millage is up 0.8% from a year ago but remains the lowest in the county at 22.7485 mills. On a house worth $80,000, with a taxable value of $40,000, the 2019 resident homeowner tax bill in Felch is $910, or about $7 more than a year ago.

For a house in Iron Mountain with a taxable value of $40,000, the total tax bill is $1,761, or about $10 less than in 2018.

Extra-voted millages are similar to a year ago except in the Norway-Vulcan area, where voters in August 2018 approved 0.5 mills, or 50 cents per $1,000 of taxable value, for the community’s senior center. That four-year levy took effect in 2019 in Waucedah and Norway townships as well as the city of Norway.

The Dickinson County Library elected this year to increase its levy by 0.05 mills, bringing it up to the full 0.9 mills authorized by voters.

Total 2019 tax rates for resident homeowners in each county municipality are:

— Breen Township, 25.6177 mills, up 0.1865 mills, an increase of 0.7%.

— Breitung Township, 25.3527 mills, down 2.19 mills, a decline of 8%.

— Felch Township, 22.7485 mills, up 0.1745 mills, an increase of 0.8%.

— Norway Township, 26.9447 mills, up 0.4483 mills, an increase of 1.7%.

— Sagola Township, 24.5441 mills, up 0.1811 mills, an increase of 0.7%.

— Waucedah Township, 26.9762 mills, up 0.45 mills, an increase of 1.7%.

— West Branch Township, 22.7664 mills, up 0.1745 mills, an increase of 0.8%.

— City of Iron Mountain, 44.0236 mills, down 0.24 mills, a decline of 0.5%.

— City of Kingsford, 43.5857 mills, down 2.124 mills, a decline of 4.6%.

— City of Norway, 41.7289 mills, up 0.475 mills, an increase of 1.2%.

Resident homeowners in the annexed portion of Iron Mountain within the Breitung Township School District will pay 41.9336 mills, down 2.19 mills, a decline of 5%.

Taxes for city government are:

— Iron Mountain is levying 20.7809 mills, the same as in 2018. This includes general operating, 15.9028 mills, down by 0.012 mills; refuse collection, 1.546 mills, up by 0.012 mills; and police and firefighter pensions, 3.321 mills, unchanged.

— Kingsford will levy 22.367 mills for city purposes, an increase of 0.066 mills. The general operating levy remains at 18 mills; the police and fire pension levy is 3.331 mills, up 0.099 mills; and the extra voted levy for the public works building is 1.102 mills, down 0.033 mills.

— Norway’s city government levy is 19.0362 mills, an increase of 0.525 mills. The operating levy stays at 16.3942 mills, while the extra voted millage is 2.642 mills, an increase of 0.525 mills.

Apart from the increase in the library millage, all county-wide levies are the same as a year ago. They are: county operating, 6.1403 mills; state education tax, 6 mills; Dickinson-Iron Intermediate School District, 2.6324 mills; Bay College, 1 mill; road commission, 0.5 mills; health department, 0.42 mills; senior citizen programs, 0.4 mills; enhanced 911, 0.4 mills; and veterans office, 0.1 mills.

Additional school taxes are levied for properties that do not qualify for Homestead exemptions. The non-Homestead school levies are: North Dickinson, 18 mills; Breitung Township, 18 mills; Norway-Vulcan, 17.9422 mills; and Iron Mountain, 17.937 mills.

In the city of Iron Mountain, properties in the Downtown Development Authority district pay an additional levy of 2 mills.

Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.