DIA millage passes easily in Oakland, Wayne, barely in Macomb

The Detroit Institute of Arts millage easily passed in Oakland and Wayne Counties, and squeaked by in Macomb County, with a .5 percent difference once all the votes were counted.

The Detroit Free Press reports supporters of the DIA ran a $2.5 million campaign to pass the millage.

More from the Freep:

“If it passes it means that for the first time in decades we’ll be a normal museum,” said [Museum director Graham Beal ]. “We’ll have predictably stable incomes for operations. We can raise money for endowment, we can plan programs and exhibitions for the future and other museums will want to work with us because they’ll know we’re going to be here.”

The museum needs just two of the three voting counties to approve the 0.2 mills for 10 years.

Michigan Radio's Kate Wells reported:

It’ll cost about $20 bucks a year, if your home is worth $200,000 on the market. That should bring in about $230 million dollars over the next decade...

So far, it looks like voters are on board. Almost 70 percent of those polled by the Detroit Free Press support the tax.

It's possible that someone might challenge the close result in Macomb County, and pay for a recount.

-Elaine Ezekiel, Michigan Radio Newsroom