Photo by Caroline Miller.
The Chelsea City Council meets with Mayor Cody Sumners in a work session on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, to discuss forming a Chelsea Police Department.
Chelsea Mayor Cody Sumners on Wednesday recommended the City Council proceed with creating a Chelsea Police Department and pass a 5-mill property tax to fund it.
The City Council has scheduled a public hearing for Oct. 5 to get public feedback on the proposed new city property tax.
The proposal is for the council to pass an ordinance adopting a property tax in May, with the tax going into effect on Oct. 1, 2027. A 5-mill property tax would not require a vote of residents. State law gives city councils authority to levy up to 5 mills of property tax with a simple vote of the council. One mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
Sumners said the average value of a home in Chelsea is a little more than $400,000, and a homeowner with property valued at $400,000 would pay $207 a year in city property tax. The city likely would gain about $1.5 million a year from a 5-mill property tax, he said.
Forming a Police Department likely would cost $4 million to $4.5 million a year, Sumners said. With the city already paying Shelby County $1.7 million to $1.8 million a year to provide deputies to serve Chelsea, the additional $1.5 million from a property tax would give the city $3.2 million or $3.3 million to form the Police Department, he said. The rest of the money needed for the Police Department likely could be generated by the additional retail sales coming with new stores being added in Chelsea, he said.
“We’re anticipating that would offset the remaining cost,” Sumners said.
Sumners said public safety is the city’s top priority.
“As we’re a growing city, the County Commission has their own priorities before looking out for the rest of the county, and as a city of almost 18,000 population now and growing larger every day, it’s time for us to be responsible for the public safety of our citizens and have that as our top priority,” the mayor said.
His recommendation is to hire a police chief in 2027, implement a school resource officer program in 2028 and start hiring other officers and be up and running in 2029.
When the City Council discussed the idea of forming a Police Department in July, other funding options considered included a gas tax and reallocating some of the current 1% sales tax revenue that goes to education.
“If you pass a gas tax, it has to be for roads and bridges. So it doesn’t really fix anything other than freeing up a little bit of money in the general fund, and if we did a 3-cent gas tax, which would be one of the highest gas taxes in the county for a city, it would only bring in $350,000 a year,” the mayor said.
Also, a majority of the council is not in favor of reallocating sales tax money now earmarked for education, he said.
The property tax is the best option, and it’s a stable source of income for a Police Department, he said.
“Right now, being a city that survives on sales tax is purely related to the economy,” Sumners said. “If the economy’s bad, taxes are affected. At least with property tax, you can anticipate on what you’re going to be getting every year, and that’s crucial for funding public safety.”
The upcoming public hearing on Oct. 5 is a good way for the public to be informed and understand why a property tax is needed and would be implemented, Sumners said.
See a story on the previous City Council discussion in July about forming a Police Department.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:28 a.m. on Sept. 16 after the date for the public hearing on the property tax was changed to Oct. 5.
