Voters approved the zoo renewal, the new museum millage, three school bonds and every city and township tax question in southeast Oakland County. Most of them keep bills where they are. Four add new costs, and buyers in Madison Heights' Lamphere district and Lathrup Village will feel them most.
By BIG Real Estate · November 4, 2026 · Data: Oakland County unofficial election results (all 405 precincts), retrieved 6 a.m. Nov. 4; ballot language; county assessment data for 2025
Every property-tax proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot in southeast Oakland County passed, according to the unofficial results posted by Oakland County Elections with all 405 precincts reporting. That includes the Lamphere Schools bond, which voters had turned down twice in 2025. The results are unofficial until the Oakland County Board of Canvassers certifies them. Michigan law gives county canvassers until the 14th day after the election, Nov. 17 (MCL 168.822).
Before the election we converted each proposal into dollars. This follow-up sorts the winners into the ones that change a tax bill and the ones that don't.
The results
- Detroit Zoo renewal (countywide), 0.10 mill, 2028–2037: 434,466 yes, 180,727 no (70.6%). About the same (+$0.73 per $100,000 TV from 2028).
- Historical museum millage (countywide, new), 0.2 mill, 2026–2035: 320,806 yes, 282,235 no (53.2%). New: $20 per $100,000 TV.
- Royal Oak Schools bond, up to $165 million: 22,377 yes, 10,371 no (68.3%). No rate increase; extends the debt levy.
- Birmingham Public Schools bond, up to $240 million: 19,518 yes, 10,185 no (65.7%). No rate increase; extends the debt levy.
- Lamphere Schools bond, up to $47.34 million: 3,924 yes, 2,993 no (56.7%). New: 2.50 mills, $250 per $100,000 TV.
- Ferndale Public Schools operating millage: 9,987 yes, 3,829 no (72.3%). Continues; non-homestead property only.
- Royal Oak parks, recreation and animal shelter renewal, 0.70 mill: 27,468 yes, 5,526 no (83.3%). Same (renewal).
- Royal Oak senior services renewal, 0.20 mill: 23,618 yes, 8,437 no (73.7%). Same (renewal).
- Bloomfield Township police and fire facilities bond, up to $50 million: 14,135 yes, 10,345 no (57.7%). New: 0.235 mill first year, 0.438 average.
- Bloomfield Hills library renewal, up to 0.52 mill: 1,675 yes, 728 no (69.7%). Same (renewal).
- Beverly Hills roads charter amendment, 0.75 mill: 2,932 yes, 721 no (80.3%). No new tax (moves existing millage to roads).
- Lathrup Village library services (new), 1.0 mill, 2027–2031: 1,744 yes, 1,016 no (63.2%). New: $100 per $100,000 TV.
TV is taxable value, the number your tax is calculated on. It is printed on your tax bill and on the assessment notice mailed each February. Vote counts are from the county's unofficial results; rates and terms are from the ballot language summarized in our pre-election guide. Troy, Southfield, Rochester Hills, Rochester, Clawson, Berkley, Oak Park and the city of Madison Heights had no city or school property-tax proposals on the county's results list, so only the two countywide questions applied there (Lamphere residents also voted on the school bond). Clawson voters rejected a property disposition question, 70% to 30%, and Ferndale voters approved two charter amendments on council resignations and vacancies; none of those involves a tax.
The museum question has a second condition. It was put on the ballot by a joint Oakland–Wayne authority, and supporters say the authority dissolves if the millage fails in either county (BridgeDetroit). In Wayne County it led 66% to 34% with 96% of precincts reporting (WDIV), a margin that late precincts are very unlikely to reverse, but that count was not final when we checked.
What the new levies cost a typical home
At Oakland County's 2025 average taxable value for an improved home, $146,421 (Oakland County Equalization), the four new levies work out to:
- Museum millage (everyone in the county): about $29 a year.
- Lamphere Schools bond: about $366 a year, for up to 30 years. School bond levies apply to homesteads and rentals alike; the principal residence exemption does not reduce them.
- Lathrup Village library: about $146 a year, 2027 through 2031.
- Bloomfield Township bond: the township's own example, a home with $294,450 of taxable value, pays about $69 in the first year and $129 a year on average over the bond's life.
The zoo renewal restores the levy from 0.0927 mill, where the Headlee rollback had trimmed it, to the 0.10 mill voters originally approved. On the average home that is about $1 a year more, starting in 2028.
The "no increase" bonds still matter
Royal Oak and Birmingham voters approved bonds the districts described as no-rate-increase proposals. That is accurate on the districts' terms: Royal Oak's total debt levy is expected to stay at or below the 2.20 mills levied in 2026, and Birmingham's at or below 3.80 mills. What changes is the timeline. Without new bonds, debt levies usually fall as older bonds are paid off; with them, the rate stays up for longer. Neither district published what the levy would have done without the bond, so we can't put a dollar figure on that difference. For anyone estimating a Royal Oak or Birmingham tax bill a few years out, the safe assumption is that the current debt rate continues.
When the new charges show up
- Museum: the ballot language lists 2026 as the first levy year, so the charge could appear on the December 2026 county tax bill. We have not confirmed which bill will carry it; the December rate sheets that cities post in early December will settle it.
- Lathrup Village library: 2027 through 2031 under the ballot language.
- Lamphere and Bloomfield Township bonds: the levy begins once bonds are sold, which can happen in one or more series, so the first year a homeowner pays depends on the district's and township's borrowing schedule.
What this means if you are buying or selling
Buyers in the Lamphere district (centered in Madison Heights): a 2.50-mill bond levy is the largest new charge on the ballot, and Michigan's uncapping rule makes it bigger for a buyer than for the current owner. The year after a sale, taxable value resets to the assessed value. If that reset takes a home's taxable value from $150,000 to $250,000, the bond costs the new owner $625 a year instead of $375. Our uncapping guide explains the reset. When you estimate taxes on a home here, ask for a figure built from the full millage rate with the bond included, not the seller's current bill.
Buyers everywhere else: the museum millage adds about $20 per $100,000 of taxable value, small next to the roughly 36 to 38 total mills a homestead already pays in Troy or Royal Oak (2025 rates; about 51 to 55 mills for non-homestead property). The bigger number in any purchase is still the taxable-value reset.
Sellers: none of these results changes your own bill much, except in the Lamphere district, Lathrup Village and Bloomfield Township, and the museum's few dollars. A buyer's lender estimates taxes for the escrow account, and an estimate built on the uncapped value plus the new millage raises the monthly payment a buyer has to qualify for. That is worth knowing when you price a home in those three communities.
Landlords in Ferndale: the school operating millage that passed falls almost entirely on non-homestead property, up to 18 mills ($1,800 per $100,000 of taxable value). It mainly replaces a levy that would otherwise expire, plus a Headlee restoration of about 1.67 mills, according to WDIV's summary of the ballot language. It runs 2027 through 2046.
What is still unsettled
The results are unofficial until certified, which must happen by Nov. 17. The Wayne County museum count was not final when we checked. And the museum authority was created by the two counties in July after a state bill that would have set up history museum authorities was vetoed (Michigan Legislature, HB 4177 history; BridgeDetroit). We have not seen the legal basis the counties used set out in a primary document, and we are not aware of any legal challenge. If that changes, we will update this article.
The statewide proposals do not affect property taxes. Proposal 1 (a constitutional convention) failed in Oakland County with 23.6% yes; Proposal 2 (political-spending limits) passed with 82.2%, per the same county results.
The takeaway
Voters in southeast Oakland County said yes to every property-tax question. For most homeowners that means a bill roughly where it was, plus about $20 per $100,000 of taxable value for the museum. In Madison Heights' Lamphere district, Lathrup Village and Bloomfield Township, the new levies are large enough to belong in any buyer's cost estimate, alongside the taxable-value reset that follows every sale.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Results are unofficial as of Nov. 4, 2026. Confirm your own millage rates with your city, village or township treasurer.