The passage of Proposal B was called a "huge victory for Ann Arbor," by Mayor John Hieftje. Proposal B will cost taxpayers 50 cents on every $1,000 of taxable property value. The tax would replace an existing parks acquisition tax that was set to expire in 2004.
The new tax will generate an estimated $84 million. The plan calls for one-third of the money to be used for city parkland acquisition; the rest would be used to help buy development rights on up to 10,000 acres of farmland outside the city.
Opponents to the measure questioned where new high-density housing would go, and whether the greenbelt would direct development to areas with water and sewer, or cause it to leapfrog to even less developed areas beyond the greenbelt.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
