"How much could 
my property taxes go down 
if all the savings from consolidation 
were returned to the taxpayers?"

The first chart on the right shows the total taxing millage rates for property-taxpayers in Douglas and Saugatuck.  

The second chart shows millage rates for the two cities (13.0818 for Douglas; 12.0000 for Saugatuck) and a "consolidated" millage rate of 12.5552 necessary to yield the same total revenue for a consolidated single city as would be the case for the two cities operating separately.

Assuming minimum cost-savings from consolidation of approximately $500,000 per year (based on the two Plante Moran analyses), and a total of $246,461 of property tax revenue generated from each mil for the consolidated city, a net property-tax reduction of approximately two mils could be the result if all consolidation savings were returned to the taxpayers.  On a representative property tax bill, this would amount to approximately a...
             5% tax reduction.
       (or about a 15% reduction in city-operating tax levy.)