On Aug.7, residents in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties will vote on the Art Authority millage for the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The 0.2 mill proposed millage would raise taxes on residents of the aforementioned counties and provide theDIA with $23 million for the next 10 years. The DIA, home to artwork by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Diego Rivera, is seeking a millage because of the recent elimination of all public funding.

From its establishment in 1893, the museum relied on funding from the City of Detroit and private philanthropy. In the 70s, the State of Michigan incorporated financial support for the DIA into the state budget. Due to economic downturn in the 90s, city and state funding was reduced and eventually eliminated.

“If the millage does not pass, the DIA would go into a gradual shutdown,” said Pamela Marcil, DIA public relations director. “We would immediately begin planning cuts in staff and programs, meaning no special exhibitions, no programs, such as school field trips, live music, art-making workshops and classes, and a host of other services. We cannot keep raising $10-$15 million every year for operations, which is what we’ve been doing since the early 90s when our public funding was cut almost in half.”

The DIA cites the goal of the millage is to temporarily restore public funding to enable the museum to build its own endowment and become financially self-sustaining.

In 2009, the DIA reduced its operating budget from $34 million to $25.4 million and cut its workforce by 20 percent, eliminating 60 full- and part-time positions. Currently, the museum has an operating endowment of about $98 million that generates about 14 percent of its budget.

Critics of the millage suggest the DIA should consider spending its endowment, rather than seeking public funding.

In an article published by The Detroit News on July 27, Republican State Representative Tom McMillin argued the DIA’s financial records show the institute’s assets have increased in the last two years.

“This does not have to pass for them to be saved. They are not in a financial crisis at all,” McMillin told The Detroit News.

Advocates of the millage insist the money McMillin is referring to is a part of the DIA’s operating endowment, and should not be spent.

“Most institutions regard spending their endowment principal as a violation of sound management practices, and it is often likened to “eating your seed corn,” said Marcil.“ Spending the endowment principal would be a fast track to the guaranteed closure of the DIA.”

If the millage is successful in all three counties, it would generate $10 million in Oakland County, $8 million in Wayne County and $5 million in Macomb County.

The DIA has promised free general admission to residents of the counties that approve the millage, an expansion of operating days and hours and more educational and public programs. The millage would tax homeowners approximately $15 annually for every $150,000 of their home’s fair market value.

“It’s a very small millage. Nobody likes taxes, and it’s hard to talk about a good tax, but if I’m going to talk about any tax being a good one, it’s this one,” said Annamarie Erickson,DIA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, at a pro-millage rally hosted by the Art is For Everyone campaign on July 31 in Detroit. “It is only two tenths of a mill, you will barely notice it, and you will get so many benefits in return.”

For some residents, the cost of the millage would be less than what it costs to take their families to the museum regularly.

“The price of admission for me for a family of four is $24. The price for my taxes would be $12, and then it’s open for everyone in our community that cannot afford to pay admission to our great museums,” said “Mojo in the Morning” host    Spike.

The DIA helps bring people and their money, into the city of Detroit, helping local businesses.

“It’s also valuable in our community, not just for the art lovers, but for the businesses in the area,” he said. “When my family comes down to the DIA, we spend time and money in the city.”

Oakland County Commissioner Robert Gosselin, who is historically against raising taxes, is urging residents to vote against the millage. He claims the DIA should find new ways to keep their doors open.

“They should dig deeper like all of us. There are families losing jobs, and now we’re asking the same families for more money,” he said. “The bottom line is that the art museum is not set up by the government, and should not be funded by the government.”

Gosselin said he fears that, like the Detroit Zoo millage of 2008  ,the DIA millage will set a precedent for other institutes, like the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Charles H. Wright African American Museum and the Detroit Science Center.

“The DIA came to us because the zoo millage passed. Where’s it going to end? They’re (Museums) always going to need more money,” he said. 

There is also division surrounding the DIA millage’s potential affect on families and children.

“A lot of schools in this area don’t even have an art program, they don’t have art teachers. When you go to the DIA, that’s a great art professor in itself,” Spike said.

Joanna Porvin, a middle school teacher in the Grosse Pointe Public school district has been bringing students to the DIA for eighteen years.

“They (students) leave the museum with a sense of connection. The sense that the Orozco, the Merot, the Picasso, the Rivera and the ideals that they embody are all a little bit theirs. We need to ensure that these experiences are available to future generations of students,” she said.

At a panel discussion at the Troy Community Center on July 26, Gosselin referred to the millage as “another brick in the wall against family,” saying the millage would put stress on financial stress on taxpayers in the future.

“Money is already being drained from families. The vast majority of families don’t go to the DIA. It’s not in their interest, but they’re being asked to pay,” he said.