The city of South Haven will seek a renewal of its Controlled Substances Enforcement Millage this year.

At a meeting this week, the city council approved ballot language seeking a five-year renewal of the levy. City Manager Kate Hosier said the millage has been around since the mid-1990s.

“We’re asking to place this on the ballot and let the voters decide whether or not to keep our narcotics millage going,” Hosier said. “We’ve had it for well over 20 years and we use that to fund two officers to work with our inter-department agencies like Michigan State Police and the FBI to just keep narcotics out of our community.”

The millage also pays a portion of the city’s K9 costs.

Hosier said the proposal would seek an additional 0.049 mills to get the amount levied up to the 0.7 mills previously approved by voters. Otherwise, the millage will be reduced due to the state’s Headlee Rollback law. Council member Mary Hosley wondered if the city should reconsider that.

“I had raised a question about the necessity of having the additional .049,” Hosley said. “I know it’s nominal, but every penny adds up.”

If voters approve the renewal of the narcotics millage, it will raise an estimated $467,000 in the first year.

With the council’s approval, the millage renewal will be placed on the August 4 ballot.